Exploration of Si-doped SnO2 composition and properties of oxide/Ag/oxide multilayers prepared using continuous composition spread by sputtering

Si-doped SnO2/Ag/Si-doped SnO2 multilayer thin films were fabricated on flexible substrates at room temperature for indium free transparent conducting electrode. The optimal composition of Si-doped SnO2 was found by investigating electrical properties of various composition deposited by off-axis RF magnetron sputtering continuous composition spread method. Si-doped SnO2 thin films have low resistivity (0.07 Ω·cm) at doping content of Si (0.14 wt%). Si-doped SnO2/Ag/Si-doped SnO2 multilayer thin films were fabricated using optimized composition deposited by on-axis RF and DC sputtering. The optimized Si-doped SnO2/Ag/Si-doped SnO2 multilayer thin film has resistivity of 9.1 × 10−5 Ω·cm and 81% transmittance in the visible region (550 nm).