Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-dnltx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-24T21:29:47.553Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Flexible and transparent TiO2/Ag/ITO multilayer electrodes on PET substrates for organic photonic devices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2015

Dae-Hyun Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Nanophotonics, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Korea
Jun Ho Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Korea
Han-Kyeol Lee
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Korea
Jin-Young Na
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Korea
Sun-Kyung Kim
Affiliation:
Department of Applied Physics, Kyung Hee University, Gyeonggi-do 446-701, Korea
Jeong Hwan Lee
Affiliation:
School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 440-746, Korea
Sang-Woo Kim
Affiliation:
SKKU Advanced Institute of Nanotechnology (SAINT), Center for Human Interface Nanotechnology (HINT), Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), Suwon 440-746, Korea
Young-Zo Yoo
Affiliation:
Duksan Hi-Metal Co. Ltd., Yeonam-dong, Buk-gu, Ulsan 683-804, Korea
Tae-Yeon Seong*
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Korea; and Department of Nanophotonics, Korea University, Seoul 136-713, Korea
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: tyseong@korea.ac.kr
Get access

Abstract

We report on the formation of highly flexible and transparent TiO2/Ag/ITO multilayer films deposited on polyethylene terephthalate substrates. The optical and electrical properties of the multilayer films were investigated as a function of oxide thickness. The transmission window gradually shifted toward lower energies with increasing oxide thickness. The TiO2 (40 nm)/Ag (18 nm)/ITO (40 nm) films gave the transmittance of 93.1% at 560 nm. The relationship between transmittance and oxide thickness was simulated using the scattering matrix method to understand high transmittance. As the oxide thickness increased from 20 to 50 nm, the carrier concentration gradually decreased from 1.08 × 1022 to 6.66 × 1021 cm−3, while the sheet resistance varied from 5.8 to 6.1 Ω/sq. Haacke's figure of merit reached a maximum at 40 nm and then decreased with increasing oxide thickness. The change in resistance for the 60 nm-thick ITO single film rapidly increased with increasing bending cycles, while that of the TiO2/Ag/ITO (40 nm/18 nm/40 nm) film remained virtually unchanged during the bending test.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Gustafsson, G., Cao, Y., Treacy, G.M., Klavetter, F., Colaneri, N., and Heeger, A.J.: Flexible light-emitting-diodes made from soluble conducting polymers. Nature 357, 477479 (1992).Google Scholar
Wan, Q., Dattoli, E.N., and Lu, W.: Transparent metallic Sb-doped SnO2 nanowires. Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 222107 (2007).Google Scholar
Dhar, A. and Alford, T.L.: Optimization of TiO2/Cu/TiO2 multilayer as transparent composite electrode (TCE) deposited on flexible substrate at room temperature. Ecs Solid State Lett. 3, N33N36 (2014).Google Scholar
Hosono, H., Ohta, H., Orita, M., Ueda, K., and Hirano, M.: Frontier of transparent conductive oxide thin films. Vacuum 66, 419425 (2002).Google Scholar
Oh, M.S., Kim, S.H., and Seong, T.Y.: Growth of nominally undoped p-type ZnO on Si by pulsed-laser deposition. Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 122103 (2005).Google Scholar
Zhang, S.X., Dhar, S., Yu, W., Xu, H., Ogale, S.B., and Venkatesan, T.: Growth parameter-property phase diagram for pulsed laser deposited transparent oxide conductor anatase Nb:TiO2 . Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 112113 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coskun, O.D. and Demirel, S.: The optical and structural properties of amorphous Nb2O5 thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering. Appl. Surf. Sci. 277, 3539 (2013).Google Scholar
Yu, S.H., Zhang, W.F., Li, L.X., Xu, D., Dong, H.L., and Jin, Y.X.: Optimization of SnO2/Ag/SnO2 tri-layer films as transparent composite electrode with high figure of merit. Thin Solid Films 552, 150154 (2014).Google Scholar
Dhar, A. and Alford, T.L.: Optimization of Nb2O5/Ag/Nb2O5 multilayers as transparent composite electrode on flexible substrate with high figure of merit. J. Appl. Phys. 112, 103113 (2012).Google Scholar
Kim, H.H., Kim, E.M., Lee, K.J., Park, J.Y., Lee, Y.R., Shin, D.C., Hwang, T.J., and Heo, G.S.: TiInZnO/Ag/TiInZnO multilayer films for transparent conducting electrodes of dye-sensitized solar cells. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 53, 032301 (2014).Google Scholar
Makha, M., Cattin, L., Lare, Y., Barkat, L., Morsli, M., Addou, M., Khelil, A., and Bernede, J.C.: MoO3/Ag/MoO3 anode in organic photovoltaic cells: Influence of the presence of a CuI buffer layer between the anode and the electron donor. Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 233307 (2012).Google Scholar
Jeon, K., Youn, H., Kim, S., Shin, S., and Yang, M.: Fabrication and characterization of WO3/Ag/WO3 multilayer transparent anode with solution-processed WO3 for polymer light-emitting diodes. Nanoscale Res. Lett. 7, 233307 (2012).Google Scholar
Choi, K.H., Choi, Y.Y., Jeong, J.A., Kim, H.K., and Jeon, S.: Highly transparent and conductive al-doped ZnO/Ag/Al-doped ZnO multilayer source/drain electrodes for transparent oxide thin film transistors. Electrochem. Solid-State Lett. 14, H152H155 (2011).Google Scholar
Jeong, J.A. and Kim, H.K.: Al2O3/Ag/Al2O3 multilayer thin film passivation prepared by plasma damage-free linear facing target sputtering for organic light emitting diodes. Thin Solid Films 547, 6367 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Song, J.H., Jeon, J.W., Kim, Y.H., Oh, J.H., and Seong, T.Y.: Optical, electrical, and structural properties of ZrON/Ag/ZrON multilayer transparent conductor for organic photovoltaics application. Superlattices Microstruct. 62, 119127 (2013).Google Scholar
Lim, J.W., Oh, S.I., Eun, K., Choa, S.H., Koo, H.W., Kim, T.W., and Kim, H.K.: Mechanical flexibility of ZnSnO/Ag/ZnSnO films grown by roll-to-roll sputtering for flexible organic photovoltaics. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 51, 115801 (2012).Google Scholar
Mohamed, S.H.: Effects of Ag layer and ZnO top layer thicknesses on the physical properties of ZnO/Ag/Zno multilayer system. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 69, 23782384 (2008).Google Scholar
Dhar, A. and Alford, T.L.: High quality transparent TiO2/Ag/TiO2 composite electrode films deposited on flexible substrate at room temperature by sputtering. APL Mater. 1, 012102 (2013).Google Scholar
Dima, I., Popescu, B., Iova, F., and Popescu, G.: Influence of the silver layer on the optical-properties of the Tio2/Ag/Tio2 multilayer. Thin Solid Films 200, 1118 (1991).Google Scholar
Jia, J.H., Zhou, P., Xie, H., You, H.Y., Li, J., and Chen, L.Y.: Study of optical and electrical properties of TiO2/Ag/TiO2 multilayers. J. Korean Phys. Soc. 44, 717721 (2004).Google Scholar
Girtan, M.: Comparison of ITO/metal/ITO and ZnO/metal/ZnO characteristics as transparent electrodes for third generation solar cells. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 100, 153161 (2012).Google Scholar
Oh, J.H., Lee, H., Kim, D., and Seong, T.Y.: Effect of Ag nanoparticle size on the plasmonic photocatalytic properties of TiO2 thin films. Surf. Coat. Technol. 206, 185189 (2011).Google Scholar
Temple, T.L., Mahanama, G.D.K., Reehal, H.S., and Bagnall, D.M.: Influence of localized surface plasmon excitation in silver nanoparticles on the performance of silicon solar cells. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 93, 19781985 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Han, H., Mayer, J.W., and Alford, T.L.: Band gap shift in the indium-tin-oxide films on polyethylene napthalate after thermal annealing in air. J. Appl. Phys. 100, 083715 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haacke, G.: New figure of merit for transparent conductors. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 40864089 (1976).Google Scholar
Driscoll, W.G. and Vaughan, W.: Optical Society of America: Handbook of Optics (McGraw-Hill, New York, 1978), 1600 pp.Google Scholar
Lewis, J., Grego, S., Chalamala, B., Vick, E., and Temple, D.: Highly flexible transparent electrodes for organic light-emitting diode-based displays. Appl. Phys. Lett. 85, 34503452 (2004).Google Scholar
Brandes, E.A., Brook, G.B., and Smithells, C.J.: Smithells Metals Reference Book, 7th ed. (Butterworth-Heinemann, Oxford, Boston, 1998).Google Scholar
Hecht, E.: Optics, 4th ed. (Addison-Wesley, Reading, Massachusetts, 2002).Google Scholar
Johnson, P.B. and Christy, R.W.: Optical constants of Noble metals. Phys. Rev. B 6, 43704379 (1972).Google Scholar
Kats, M.A., Sharma, D., Lin, J., Genevet, P., Blanchard, R., Yang, Z., Qazilbash, M.M., Basov, D.N., Ramanathan, S., and Capasso, F.: Ultra-thin perfect absorber employing a tunable phase change material. Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 221101 (2012).Google Scholar
Kats, M.A., Blanchard, R., Genevet, P., and Capasso, F.: Nanometre optical coatings based on strong interference effects in highly absorbing media. Nat. Mater. 12, 2024 (2013).Google Scholar
Schlich, F.F. and Spolenak, R.: Strong interference in ultrathin semiconducting layers on a wide variety of substrate materials. Appl. Phys. Lett. 103, 213112 (2013).Google Scholar