Electrical, optical and structural properties of silver-based multilayer films deposited by magnetron sputtering

In this work, a very thin (9 nm) and continuous Ag film is obtained. The film is reflective in the near infrared region and transparent in the visible region. Low-E coatings consisting of Ag, AZO dielectrics and Al2O3 buffer layers were deposited by magnetron sputtering. It was found that the properties of Ag films significantly improved. Besides, it was observed that the Al2O3 buffer layer reduced the surface resistance of the multilayer films to 3.81 Ω/sq and surface roughness to 0.78 nm, while the transmittance in the visible region increased from 67 to 79%. By this work, the AZO/Ag/AZO/Al2O3/glass sandwich structure is demonstrated. This could be an alternative way to fabricate Low-E glass.