Effect of Thermal Annealing on the Electrical Properties of In-Si-O/Ag/In-Si-O Multilayer

Abstract

Transparent conductive multilayers have been fabricated using transparent amorphous Si doped indium oxide (ISO) semiconductors and metallic Ag of ISO/Ag/ISO. The resistivity of a multilayer is dependent on the middle layer thickness of silver. The thickness of the Ag layer is fixed at 11 nm and takes into account cost and optical transmittance. As-deposited ISO/Ag (11 nm)/ISO multilayer shows a measured resistivity of 7.585×10 -5 Ω cm. After a post annealing treatment of 400℃, the resistivity is reduced to 4.332×10 -5 Ω cm. The reduction of resistivity should be explained that the mobility of the multilayer increased due to the optimized crystalline, meanwhile, the Hall concentration of the multilayer showed an obscure change because the carriers mainly come from the insert of the Ag layer.

Evaluation of Transparent ITO/Nano-Ag/ITO Electrode Grown on Flexible Electrochromic Devices by Roll-to-Roll Sputtering Technology

“…However, raising the nano-Ag thickness above 7 nm reduced light transmittance because the excessively thick Ag layer caused light scattering, particularly in the high wavelength area. We can acquire the optimal optical transmittance of the AR ITO/nano-Ag/ITO films by regulating the nano-Ag thickness [16,17] in a certain nano-Ag thickness area, which suggests that the optical transmittance of the ITO/nano-Ag/ITO multilayers can be increased. Simulation results in light transmission of ITO/nano-Ag/ITO stacks on PET substrates with constant ITO film thickness (42 nm) and different nano-Ag layer thickness.…”

“…thickness [16,17] in a certain nano-Ag thickness area, which suggests that the optical transmittance of the ITO/nano-Ag/ITO multilayers can be increased. Simulation results in light transmission of ITO/nano-Ag/ITO stacks on PET substrates with constant ITO film thickness (42 nm) and different nano-Ag layer thickness.…”

“…For the conductive property, the change in resistivity (ρ) of the ITO/nano-Ag/ITO multilayer films with increasing nano-Ag thickness can be explained using the following basic equation [17]:…”

“…where n is the number of charge carriers, e is the charge of the carrier, and µ is the mobility of the material. As the thickness of the nano-Ag layer increases, both values of n and µ also increase, which proves that the nano-Ag layer is the main conduction path for showing their electrical transportation [17]. Tungsten oxide (WO 3 ) is the most widely studied cathode EC material, especially used for ECD.…”