Effect of vacancy defects on the electronic transport properties of an Ag–ZnO–Pt sandwich structure

The effect of zinc and oxygen vacancy defects on the electronic transport properties of Ag(100)–ZnO(100)–Pt(100) sandwich structures is studied using density functional theory in combination with the nonequilibrium Green’s functional formalism. Defect-free systems show clear current rectification due to voltage dependent charge localization in the system as revealed in our transmission eigenstates analysis. Regardless of the location, oxygen vacancies result in enhanced current in the system, whereas Zn vacancy defects reduce the charge transport across the junction. The current rectification becomes less pronounced in the presence of both types of vacancy defects. Our findings can be of practical importance for developing metal-insulator-metal diodes.