Highly transparent conductive ITO/Ag/ITO trilayer films deposited by RF sputtering at room temperature

ITO/Ag/ITO (IAI) trilayer films were deposited on glass substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. A high optical transmittance over 94.25% at the wavelength of 550 nm and an average transmittance over the visual region of 88.04% were achieved. The calculated value of figure of merit (FOM) reaches 80.9 10-3 Ω-1 for IAI films with 15-nm-thick Ag interlayer. From the morphology and structural characterization, IAI films could show an excellent correlated electric and optical performance if Ag grains interconnect with each other on the bottom ITO layer. These results indicate that IAI trilayer films, which also exhibit low surface roughness, will be well used in optoelectronic devices.