Optimization of transparent amorphous oxide-metal-amorphous oxide multilayer with high figure of merit for high transmittance and low resistivity

Abstract Highly transparent amorphous oxide-metal-amorphous oxide (OMO) multilayers were fabricated at room temperature using amorphous semiconducting Si–Zn–Sn–O (SZTO) metal oxide and metallic silver. Amorphous SZTO (a-SZTO) showed high refractive index of 2.04 which is comparable to crystalline ITO, and wide optical bandgap (Eg) of 3.26 eV, allowing transmitting of wavelength above 380 nm. SZTO based OMO showed low resistivity at the level of 10−5 Ω cm by inserting an Ag layer. After optimizing the optical and electrical properties by changing Ag and SZTO sublayer thickness, a transparent conductive electrode with high average transmittance of 96.5% in visible region and low resistivity of 7.158 × 10−5 Ω cm was fabricated at room temperature. The results show that SZTO is a promising sublayer for high performance transparent conducting oxides applications.