AZO/Au/AZO tri-layer thin films for the very low resistivity transparent electrode applications

摘要

Aluminum-doped ZnO (AZO)/gold/AZO tri-layer structures with very low resistivity and high transmit-tance are prepared by simultaneous RF magnetron sputtering (for AZO) and ion sputtering (for Au). The properties of the tri-layer films are investigated at different Au layer thicknesses (5-20nm). The effects of Au layer thickness and the role of Au on the transmission properties of the tri-layer films were investigated. The very low resistivity of 1.01 × 10~(-5) Ω cm, mobility of 27.665 cm~2 V~(-1) s~(-1) and carrier concentration of 4.563 × 10~(22) cm~(-3) were obtained at an Au layer thickness of 20 nm. The peak transmittance of 86.18% at 650-nm wavelength was obtained at an Au layer thickness of 8 nm. These results show the films to be a good candidate for high-quality electrode scheme in various display applications.