Tailoring transparence in MoOx/Ag/MoOx electrode through Ag by O2/Ar plasma exposure

• Published in: Ceramics international 2017-01, Vol.43 (1), p.308-315
• Main Authors: Lin, Tzu-Wei, Chen, Pang-Shiu, Wang, Zheng-Ying, Zhuang, Kai-Wei, Chiu, Su-Ching, Peng, Cheng-Hsiung, Lee, Sheng-Wei
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: MoO3; Plasma treatment; Silver; Sputtering; Transparent conductive oxide
• ISSN: 0272-8842; 1873-3956
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ceramint.2016.09.157

In this study, amorphous MoOx films and Ag metal films were deposited on soda-lime glass via a sputtering system at room temperature. The experimental results indicate that MoOx films prepared with a 6% O2/Ar flow rate exhibit an amorphous phase with high transparency and an optical band gap of 2.7eV. In-situ O2/Ar plasma was adopted to further modify the surface of the Ag mid-layer after deposition. This approach can enhance the visible transmittance of MoOx and Ag-based multilayers with the same sheet resistance. The polygrains oriented along the (111) and (200) directions in the inserted Ag thin films were adopted to supply carriers into the MoOx film and decrease the sheet resistance of the MoOx and Ag-based multilayer. The multilayer structure exhibited a sufficiently large Ag thickness (>10nm), low resistance, and visible transmittance to serve as a transparent conductive electrode. The dependence of the Ag thickness, MoOx thickness, and plasma treatment time on the optical and electrical properties of Ag/MoOx and symmetric MoOx/Ag/MoOx were also explored. A figure of merit (FOM) of 5.3×10−2(Ω−1) was achieved at the visible wavelength of 550nm for a MoOx/Ag/MoOx stacked layer with a 10-nm-thick Ag layer and a 30-nm-thick MoO3 layer. Such a MoOx/Ag/MoOx stacked structure might be a promising electrode in potential applications of transparent conductive oxides.