Download PDF
CC BY 4.0 · Organic Materials 2023; 5(01): 59-65
DOI: 10.1055/s-0042-1757982
Organic Thin Films: From Vapor Deposition to Functional Applications
Original Article

Multilayer and Thin Transparent Conducting Oxide Fabrication Using RF Magnetron Sputtering on Flexible Substrates

Sanjay Kumar Swami 
#   Equal contributions.
a   CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, Dr. K. S. Krishnan Marg, New Delhi 110012, India
,
Bidyut Barman
#   Equal contributions.
b   Photovoltaic Lab, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
,
Anuj Kumar 
c   Department of Physics, J. C. Bose University of Science and Technology, YMCA, Faridabad, Haryana 21006, India
,
Viresh Dutta 
b   Photovoltaic Lab, Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi 110016, India
› Author Affiliations
› Further Information
   Permissions and Reprints All articles of this category


Abstract

In this work, the fabrication of multilayered transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), ZnO–Ag–ZnO (Z-TCO) and AZO–Ag–AZO (AZ-TCO), on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering is reported, with the optical and electrical properties comparable to those of the commercially available Sn-doped indium oxide (ITO) on the PET substrate. The growth of Z-TCO and AZ-TCO layers on PET (with surface roughness ~5 – 7 nm) shows similar surface characteristics to that on the glass substrate. The multilayered Z-TCO and AZ-TCO (total thickness ~70 nm) with 10 nm of Ag thickness (named Z-2 and AZ-2, respectively) exhibit a maximum transparency of 82.7% and 86.4%, at 515 and 498 nm, respectively. The AZ-2 layer has a lower electrical resistivity of 3.92 × 10−5 Ω cm with a lower sheet resistance of 5.6 Ω/sq, whereas for ITO on PET these values are 2.62 × 10−4 Ω cm and 14.5 Ω/sq, respectively. The AZ-2 layer also gives an excellent figure of merit (FoM) of 21.3 × 10−3 Ω−1, which is better than the FoM for ITO PET (17.3 × 10−3 Ω−1). Therefore, the flexible multilayer TCOs prepared using RF magnetron sputtering on PET substrates on a large area can have better optoelectronic properties than commercial flexible ITO coating and can be used in flexible optoelectronic devices.

Key words

flexible substrates - multilayered TCO - magnetron sputtering - electrical resistivity - figure of merit

Supporting Information



Publication History

Received: 02 September 2022

Accepted after revision: 19 December 2022

Article published online:
27 January 2023

© 2023. The authors. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Rüdigerstraße 14, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

  • References

  • 1 Zhang C, Ji C, Park YB, Guo LJ. Adv. Opt. Mater. 2020; 2001298: 1
    PubMed
  • 2 Yang Y, Song W, Ding L. Sci. Bull. 2020; 65: 1324
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 3 Cui J, Wang A, Edleman NL, Ni J, Lee P, Armstrong NR, Marks TJ. Adv. Mater. 2001; 13: 1476
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 4 Kumar A, Zhou C. ACS Nano 2010; 4: 11
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 5 Swami SK, Chaturvedi N, Kumar A, Dutta V. Mater. Today Energy 2018; 9: 377
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 6 Swami SK, Chaturvedi N, Kumar A, Dutta V. Prog. Photovoltaics Res. Appl. 2016; 24: 74
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 7 Zhang SX, Dhar S, Yu W, Xu H, Ogale SB, Venkatesan T. Appl. Phys. Lett. 2007; 91: 112113
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 8 Cho KS, Kim HK. RSC Adv. 2018; 8: 2599
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 9 Wu HW, Yang RY, Hsiung CM, Chu CH. J. Mater. Sci.: Mater. Electron. 2013; 24: 166
    PubMed
  • 10 Sivaramakrishnan K, Theodore ND, Moulder JF, Alford TL. J. Appl. Phys. 2009; 106: 063510
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 11 Kim JH, Lee JH, Kim SW, Yoo YZ, Seong TY. Ceram. Int. 2015; 41: 7146
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 12 Guo X, Liu X, Lin F, Li H, Fan Y, Zhang N. Sci. Rep. 2015; 5: 10569
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 13 Sharma V, Kumar P, Kumar A, Surbhi Surbhi, Asokan K, Sachdev K. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 2017; 169: 122
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 14 Minami T. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 2005; 20: S35
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 15 Girtan M. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 2012; 100: 153
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 16 Han H, Theodore ND, Alford TL. J. Appl. Phys. 2008; 103: 013708
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 17 Guillén C, Herrero J. Phys. Status Solidi A 2010; 207: 1563
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 18 Fahland M, Vogt T, Schoenberger W, Schiller N. Thin Solid Films 2008; 516: 5777
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 19 Barman B, Swami SK, Dutta V. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 2021; 129: 105801
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 20 Rayerfrancis A, Bhargav BP, Ahmed N, Balaji C, Kumar G. EPJ Appl. Phys. 2018; 82: 1
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 21 Swami SK, Chaturvedi N, Kumar A, Kumar V, Garg A, Dutta V. Sol. Energy 2022; 231: 458
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 22 Jayababu N, Poloju M, Shruthi J, Reddy MVR. Mater. Sci. Semicond. Process. 2019; 102: 104591
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 23 Zak AK, Razali R, Mazid WHA, Darroudi M. Int. J. Nanomed. 2011; 6: 1399
    PubMed
  • 24 Arefi MR, Rezaei-Zarchi S. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2012; 13: 4340
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 25 Sahu DR, Chen CY, Lin SY, Huang JL. Thin Solid Films 2006; 515: 932
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 26 Nezhad EH, Haratizadeh H, Kari BM. Ceram. Int. 2019; 45: 9950
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 27 Lu JG, Ye ZZ, Zeng YJ, Zhu LP, Wang L, Yuan J, Zhao BH, Liang QL. J. Appl. Phys. 2006; 100: 073714
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 28 Liu Y, Li Y, Zeng H. J. Nanomater. 2013; 2013: 196521
    PubMed
  • 29 Song S, Yang T, Lv M, Li Y, Xin Y, Jiang L, Wu Z, Han S. Vacuum 2010; 85: 39
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 30 Ungar T, Gubicza J, Ribárik G, Borbély A. J. Appl. Crystallogr. 2001; 34: 298
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 31 Jazmati AK, Abdallah B. Mater. Res. 2018; 21: 1
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 32 Motevalizadeh L, Heidary Z, Abrishami ME. Bull. Mater. Sci. 2014; 37: 397
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 33 Riascos H, Orozco S, Uzuriaga J. Procedia Mat. Sci. 2015; 9: 523
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 34 Abadias G, Chason E, Keckes J, Sebastiani M, Thompson GB, Barthel E, Doll GL, Murray CE, Stoessel CH, Martinu L. J. Vac. Sci. Technol., A 2018; 36: 020801
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 35 Giovannetti F, Föste S, Ehrmann N, Rockendorf G. Sol. Energy 2014; 104: 52
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 36 Szczyrbowski J, Dietrich A, Hartig K. Sol. Energy Mater. 1987; 16: 103
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 37 Mohamed SH. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 2008; 69: 2378
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 38 Li R, Zhou Y, Sun M, Gong Z, Guo Y, Wu F, Li W, Ding W. Coatings 2019; 9: 591
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 39 Haacke G. J. Appl. Phys. 1976; 47: 4086
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 40 Makuła P, Pacia M, Macyk W. J. Phys. Chem. Lett. 2018; 9: 6814
    CrossrefPubMed
  • 41 Kubelka P, Munk FA. Z. Tech. Phys. 1931; 12: 593
    PubMed