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Low-temperature fabrication of high-performance AlN/Ag/AlN thin films for transparent electrode applications

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Abstract

Highly transparent and conductive AlN/Ag/AlN thin films were prepared by magnetron sputtering on glass and PET substrates at room temperature. The AlN/Ag/ AlN thin films on glass showed a wide optical window with high transmittance over the wavelength range of 300–800 nm. By varying the thickness values of the top and bottom AlN layers, the transmittance of the Ag layers as well as the position of the maximum transmittance can be modulated. At the optimized values of thickness for the top and bottom AlN layers, the AlN/Ag/AlN electrode exhibited the average transmittance of 72.6% and 82.3% in ultraviolet and visible wavelength range of 300–400 nm and 400–800 nm, respectively, along with a sheet resistance of 7.52 Ω/sq and the corresponding Haacke figure of merit of 1.90 × 10–2 Ω−1. Additionally, the smooth surface with RMS roughness less than 1 nm and the good flexibility of the multilayer structures were demonstrated.

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Data availability statement

The data used to support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Scientific Research Project of Education Department of Hunan Province (No. 20C0574) and the Key scientific research projects of Hunan Institute of Technology (No. HY22022).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan Institute of Technology, Hengyang, 421002, People’s Republic of China

    Ke Zhu

  2. School of Physics and Electronics, Central South University, Changsha, 410083, People’s Republic of China

    Kaiwei Yang

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  1. Ke Zhu
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  2. Kaiwei Yang
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Correspondence to Ke Zhu.

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Zhu, K., Yang, K. Low-temperature fabrication of high-performance AlN/Ag/AlN thin films for transparent electrode applications. Appl. Phys. A 128, 1038 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-022-06195-4

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