Fabrication of the ITO/Mesh-Ag/ITO Transparent Electrode using Ag Nano- Thin Layer with a Mesh Structure and Its Characterization

메쉬 구조의 Ag 나노박막을 이용한 ITO/Mesh-Ag/ITO 고전도성 투명전극 제조 및 특성 분석

  • Lee, Dong Hyun (Department of Electronics Engineering, Gachon University) ;
  • Cho, Eou Sik (Department of Electronics Engineering, Gachon University) ;
  • Kwon, Sang Jik (Department of Electronics Engineering, Gachon University)
  • 이동현 (가천대학교 전자공학과) ;
  • 조의식 (가천대학교 전자공학과) ;
  • 권상직 (가천대학교 전자공학과)
  • Received : 2019.12.09
  • Accepted : 2019.12.16
  • Published : 2019.12.31

Abstract

The 'ITO/Ag/ITO' multilayers as a highly conductive and transparent electrode, even with the optimum thickness conditions, the transmittances were much lower than those of a single ITO layer on some ranges of the visible wavelength. In order to improve the transmittance, Ag layer was formed with mesh structure. Where, the thickness of the Ag layer was about 10 nm and the space between the Ag lines was varied from 2.9 ㎛ to 19.6 ㎛ with the fixed Ag width of about 1.2 ㎛ in order to vary an open ratio of the Ag mesh structure. The transmittance and sheet resistance in the ITO/Mesh-Ag/ITO multilayer structure were analyzed depending on the open ratio. As a result, a trade off in the open ratio was necessary in order to obtain the transmittance as high as possible and the sheet resistance as possible low. By the open ratio of about 86%, in the ITO/Mesh-Ag/ITO multilayer structure, the transmittance was nearly same as the single ITO layer and the sheet resistance was about 62.3 Ω/.

Keywords

References

  1. S. K. Park, J. I. Han, W. K. Kim, and M. G. Kwak, "Deposition of indium-tin-oxide films on polymer substrates for application in plastic-based flat panel displays," Thin Solid Films Vol. 397, pp. 49-55, 2001. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-6090(01)01489-4
  2. N. L. Dehuff, E. S. Kettenring, D. Hong, H. Q. Chiang, J. F. Wager, R. L. Hoffman, C.-H. Park, and D. A. Keszler, "Transparent thin-film transistors with zinc indium oxide channel layer," J. Appl. Phys., Vol. 97, pp. 064505-1-064505-5, 2005. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1862767
  3. T. Uchida, Y. Kasahara, T. Otomo, S. Seki, M. Wang, and Y. Sawada, "Transparent conductive electrode deposited by Cs-incorporated RF magnetron sputtering and evaluation of the damage in OLED organic layer," Thin Solid Films, Vol. 516, pp. 5907-5910, 2008. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2007.10.042
  4. K. H. Choi, J. H. Kim, Y. J. Noh, S. I. Na, and H. K. Kim, "Ag nanowire-embedded ITO films as a nearinfrared transparent and flexible anode for flexible organic solar cells," Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells, Vol. 110, pp. 147-153, 2013. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.solmat.2012.12.022
  5. M. Theuring, M. Vehse, K. Maydell, and C. Agert, "AZO-Ag-AZO transparent electrode for amorphous silicon solar cells," Thin Solid Films, Vol. 558, pp. 294-297, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2014.02.042
  6. S. Yu, L. Li, D. Xu, H. Dong, and Y. Jin, "Characterization of $SnO_2/Cu/$SnO_2$ multilayers for high performance transparent conducting electrodes," Thin Solid Films, Vol. 562, pp. 501-505, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2014.04.064
  7. D. Miao, S. Jiang, S. Shang, and Z. Chen, Highly transparent and infrared reflective AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer film prepared on PET substrate by RF magnetron sputtering," Vac., Vol. 106, pp. 1-4, 2014. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2014.02.021
  8. J. T. Guske, J. Brown, A. Welsh, and S. Franzen, "Infrared surface plasmon resonance of AZO-Ag-AZO sandwich thin films," Opt. Express, Vol. 20, pp. 23215-23226, 2012. https://doi.org/10.1364/OE.20.023215
  9. J. C. Kim, C. H. Shin, C. W. Jeong, Y. J. Kwon, J. H. Park, and D. Kim, "Investigation of conductive and transparent ITO/Ni/ITO multilayer films deposited by a magnetron sputter process," Nuclear Instr. Methods Phys. Res. B, Vol. 268, pp. 131-134, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nimb.2009.10.180
  10. D. Kim, Low temperature deposition of transparent conducting ITO/Au/ITO films by reactive magnetron sputtering", Appl. Surf. Sci., Vol. 256, pp. 1774-1777, 2010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsusc.2009.10.002
  11. Y. S. Park, H. K. Park, J. A. Jeong, H. K. Kim, K. H. Choi, S. I. Nam, and D. Y. Kim, "Comparative Investigation of Transparent ITO/Ag/ITO and ITO/Cu/ITO Electrodes Grown by Dual-Target DC Sputtering for Organic Photovoltaics," J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 156, pp. H588-H594, 2009. https://doi.org/10.1149/1.3131362
  12. Y. T. Yoon, E. S. Cho, and S. J. Kwon, "Optical Analysis of the ITO/Ag/ITO Multiple Layers as a Highly Conductive Transparent Electrode", J. the Semiconductor & Display Tech., Vol. 18, pp. 87-91, 2019.