Enhanced Optical and Electrical Properties of ITO/Ag/AZO Transparent Conductors for Photoelectric Applications

Abstract

The enhancement of the optical and electrical properties of TCO films was investigated by depositing different layers of AZO (100 nm), Ag (5 nm)/AZO (95 nm), and ITO (45 nm)/Ag (5 nm)/AZO (50 nm) upon n-Si substrate at room temperature by magnetron sputtering method. The ITO/Ag/AZO device efficiently improved the electrical and optical properties with the low sheet resistance of 2.847 Ω/sq. and an increase in the rectification ratio of 455.60% when compared with AZO and Ag/AZO devices. The combination of ITO/Ag/AZO provided the optimum results in all the electrical and optical properties. These results showed that within the optimized thickness range of 100 nm, compared to AZO and Ag/AZO, ITO/Ag/AZO device showed the improvement for both optical and electrical properties at room temperature.