The Ag layer thickness effect on the figure of merit of the AZO/Ag bilayer prepared by DC sputtering of AZO and thermal evaporation method of Ag

Abstract

In this study, first we had prepared four samples of the AZO thin film on the glass substrate with the thickness of ∼200 nm then the Ag layer was deposited with the thickness of 8 nm, 16 nm and 23.3 nm on three of the AZO thin film samples respectively. DC sputtering was used as deposition method of AZO on the glass substrate and deposition method of Ag on the AZO was thermal evaporation. The AZO and the AZO/Ag had been deposited at room temperature afterwards they were annealed at 450 °C. Before and after annealing, x-ray diffraction, AFM, UV-Vis spectroscopy and four-point probe were used. Also before annealing, SEM was used to obtain thickness of samples. The AZO/Ag bilayer with the thickness of 16 nm of the Ag layer indicates maximum transmittance 45% for before and 72% for after annealing. Due to the low sheet resistance of 8.41 Ω/sq, the AZO/Ag bilayer with the thickness of 16 nm shows the figure of merit before annealing.