Influence of Ag thickness of aluminum-doped ZnO/Ag/aluminum-doped ZnO thin films

Highly conducting aluminum-doped ZnO (30 nm)/Ag (5–15 nm)/aluminum-doped ZnO (30 nm) multilayer thin films were deposited on glass substrate by rf magnetron sputtering (for top/bottom aluminum-doped ZnO films) and e-beam evaporation (for Ag film). The transmittance is more than 70% for wavelengths above 400 nm with the Ag layer thickness of 10 nm. The resistivity is 3.71 × 10− 4 Ω-cm, which can be decreased to 3.8 × 10− 5 Ω-cm with the increase of the Ag layer thickness to 15 nm. The Haacke figure of merit has been calculated for the films with the best value being 8 × 10− 3 Ω− 1. It was shown that the multilayer thin films have potential for applications in optoelectronics.

► High-quality Al-doped ZnO (AZO)/Ag/AZO Transparent Conducting Oxide films. ► AZO films (30 nm) made by RF sputtering; E-beam evaporation for Ag film (5–15 nm). ► Influence of Ag thickness on optical and electrical properties were analyzed. ► High quality multilayer film with optimal intermediate Ag layer thickness of 10 nm. ► 3.71 × 10–4 Ω-cm resistivity, 91.89% transmittance at 470 nm obtained and reproducible.