Enhanced Optical and Electrical Properties of ITO/Ag/AZO Transparent Conductors for Photoelectric Applications

The enhancement of the optical and electrical properties of TCO films was investigated by depositing different layers of AZO (100 nm), Ag (5 nm)/AZO (95 nm), and ITO (45 nm)/Ag (5 nm)/AZO (50 nm) upon n-Si substrate at room temperature by magnetron sputtering method. The ITO/Ag/AZO device efficiently improved the electrical and optical properties with the low sheet resistance of 2.847 Omega/sq. and an increase in the rectification ratio of 455.60% when compared with AZO and Ag/AZO devices. The combination of ITO/Ag/AZO provided the optimum results in all the electrical and optical properties. These results showed that within the optimized thickness range of 100 nm, compared to AZO and Ag/AZO, ITO/Ag/AZO device showed the improvement for both optical and electrical properties at room temperature.