Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been deposited by rf magnetron sputtering on glass substrates at different substrate temperatures. The structural, electrical and optical properties of these films have been investigated to obtain optimum values for resistivity, optical transmittance and surface smoothness. The film deposited at a substrate temperature of 300 • C shows good conductivity, optical transmittance, crystallinity and surface smoothness. These ITO films were used to fabricate organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). The dc current-voltage (I-V) studies on ITO/PEDOT:PSS/MEH-PPV/Al test structures show better rectifying behaviour on a smoother ITO substrate.

Multilayer structures of TiO2/Ag/TiO2 have been deposited onto flexible substrates by room temperature sputtering to develop indium-free transparent composite electrodes. The effect of Ag thicknesses on optical and electrical properties and the mechanism of conduction have been discussed. The critical thickness (tc) of Ag mid-layer to form a continuous conducting layer is 9.5 nm and the multilayer has been optimized to obtain a sheet resistance of 5.7 Ω/sq and an average optical transmittance of 90% at 590 nm. The Haacke figure of merit (FOM) for tc has one of the highest FOMs with 61.4 × 10−3 Ω−1/sq.

Different multilayer structures of Nb2O5/Ag/Nb2O5 have been deposited onto flexible substrates by sputtering at room temperature to develop an indium free transparent composite electrode. The effect of Ag thickness on the electrical and optical properties of the multilayer stack has been studied in accordance with the Ag morphology. The critical thickness of Ag to form a continuous conducting layer is found to be 9.5 nm. A new conduction mechanism has been proposed to describe the conduction before and after the critical thickness. The effective Hall resistivity of the optimized films is as low as 6.44 × 10−5 Ω-cm with a carrier concentration and mobility of 7.4 × 1021 cm−3 and 13.1 cm2 /V-s, respectively, at the critical Ag layer thickness. The multilayer stack has been optimized to obtain a sheet resistance of 7.2 Ω/sq and an average optical transmittance of 86% at 550 nm without any substrate heating or post-annealing process. The Haacke figure of merit (FOM) has been calculated for the films, and the multilayer with a 9.5 nm thick Ag layer has the highest FOM at 31.5 × 10-3 Ω−1, which is one of the highest FOM values reported for TCE deposited at room temperature on a flexible substrate.

No abstract

ZnO nanostructures were fabricated on copper substrates by hydrothermal method at an optimized growth temperature of -95 degrees C. Structural properties were investigated by field emission scanning electron and transmission electron microscopy. Distinct morphologies were found to be formed at different growth times. The formation of nanotubes mainly involved the initial nucleation followed by the growth of nanorods at 95 degrees C, and then with the increase of dissolution time at room temperature, the preferential chemical dissolution of the metastable Zn-rich [0001] polar surfaces resulted in removing the atoms from the surfaces, thus leading to the thinning of the wall of the nanostructures. Completely hollow ZnO nanotubes could be obtained at a high dissolution time. The room temperature photoluminescence and optical absorption properties of ZnO nanotubes have been studied as a function of dissolution time. The efficacy of ZnO nanotubes for glucose sensing applications has been studied.