Optimization of transparent amorphous oxide-metal-amorphous oxide multilayer with high figure of merit for high transmittance and low resistivity

Abstract

Highly transparent amorphous oxide-metal-amorphous oxide (OMO) multilayers were fabricated at room temperature using amorphous semiconducting Si–Zn–Sn–O (SZTO) metal oxide and metallic silver. Amorphous SZTO (a-SZTO) showed high refractive index of 2.04 which is comparable to crystalline ITO, and wide optical bandgap (E g ) of 3.26 eV, allowing transmitting of wavelength above 380 nm. SZTO based OMO showed low resistivity at the level of 10 −5 Ω cm by inserting an Ag layer. After optimizing the optical and electrical properties by changing Ag and SZTO sublayer thickness, a transparent conductive electrode with high average transmittance of 96.5% in visible region and low resistivity of 7.158 × 10 −5 Ω cm was fabricated at room temperature. The results show that SZTO is a promising sublayer for high performance transparent conducting oxides applications. • SZTO OMO multilayer is a transparent conductive electrode having high transmittance and low resistivity. • It was calculated that the optical bandgap has a wide bandgap. • The optical and electrical properties were optimized by changing the Ag and SZTO sub-layer thickness.