Enhanced optical and electrical properties of Ni inserted ITO/Ni/AZO tri-layer structure for photoelectric applications

A thin Ni layer of 5 nm thickness was deposited in between indium-tin-oxide (ITO) and aluminum-doped-zinc oxide (AZO) layers of 50 nm thickness each. The Ni inserting tri-layer structure (ITO/Ni/AZO) showed lower resistivity of 5.51 × 10−4 Ωcm which is nearly 20 times lesser than 97.9 × 10−4 Ωcm of bilayer structure (ITO/AZO). A thin Ni layer in between ITO and AZO enhanced the carrier concentration, mobility and photoresponse behaviors so that figure of merit (FOM) value of ITO/Ni/AZO device was greater than that of ITO/AZO device. ITO/Ni/AZO structure showed improved quantum efficiencies over a broad range of wavelengths (∼350-950 nm) compared to that of ITO/AZO bilayer structure, resulting in enhanced photoresponses. These results show that the optical, electrical and photoresponse properties of ITO/AZO structure could be enhanced by inserting Ni layer of 5 nm thickness in between ITO and AZO layers.