Up to 98.2% super transmittance and precise modification of wavelength band in vein-like Ag in ITO/Ag/AZO sandwich structure

Abstract High transmittance and low resistance ITO/Ag/AZO (IAA) sandwich structures were fabricated as transparent electrodes through a combination of the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and the RF magnetron sputtering techniques. The Ag in the middle layer forms vein-like network in the IAA structure, resulting in improved electrical conduction. The maximum transmission in different wavelength bands of the IAA structure was achieved by changing the thickness of each layer. The highest transmittance of 98.24% was observed at 486 nm for the structure with Ag-layer thickness of 8 nm. By optimizing the layer thicknesses of the fabricated structure, the lowest sheet resistance of 5.8 Ω/□ with an average transmittance of 90.28% in the visible region was obtained for the ITO (35 nm)/Ag (10 nm)/AZO (35 nm) electrode. The transmittance wavelength band of the IAA structure was modified precisely by controlling the layer thickness of the ITO and AZO films. The highest figure of merit (FOM) value of 1.21 × 10−1 Ω−1 was obtained for the ITO (35 nm)/Ag (10 nm)/AZO (35 nm) electrode, which suggests a high potential of these electrodes for application in the photovoltaic devices.