Electrical, optical and structural properties of silver-based multilayer films deposited by magnetron sputtering

In this work, a very thin (9 nm) and continuous Ag film is obtained. The film is reflective in the near infrared region and transparent in the visible region. Low-E coatings consisting of Ag, AZO dielectrics and Al 2 O 3 buffer layers were deposited by magnetron sputtering. It was found that the properties of Ag films significantly improved. Besides, it was observed that the Al 2 O 3 buffer layer reduced the surface resistance of the multilayer films to 3.81 Ω/sq and surface roughness to 0.78 nm, while the transmittance in the visible region increased from 67 to 79%. By this work, the AZO/Ag/AZO/Al 2 O 3 /glass sandwich structure is demonstrated. This could be an alternative way to fabricate Low-E glass.