The influence of Ni layer and thickness of AZO layers on the optoelectronic properties of AZO/Ni/AZO tri-layer deposited at room temperature

A thin Ni film was employed to improve electrical performances of aluminum-doped-zinc-oxide (AZO). AZO thickness was modulated to find an optimum combination for AZO/Ni/AZO tri-layer. A combination of AZO/Ni/AZO (50 nm/5 nm/50 nm) substantially improves carrier mobility 34.5 cm2 V−1 S−1 from 1.96 cm2 V−1 S−1 of bilayer AZO/AZO (50 nm/50 nm) film. Although, Ni-insertion sacrifices the optical transmittance, the AZO/Ni/AZO structure effectively enhances the figure of merit (FOM) values. We report that the optical and electrical properties of AZO layers could be enriched by embedding a thin Ni film in AZO layers with tuning the thickness of AZO layers.