Analysis of the amorphous SiInZnO/Ag/amorphous SiInZnO multilayer structure as a next-generation transparent electrode using essential macleod program simulation

Essential macleod program (EMP) was used to optimize the transmittance of the transparent conducting layers in an oxide-metal-oxide structure. For EMP simulation, the optical coefficient of the material was extracted using an ellipsometer. Following the simulation studies, oxide-metal-oxide samples were fabricated experimentally, and their optical and electrical properties were analyzed. Multilayer SiInZnO/Ag/Siinzno (S/A/S) structures were grown on glass substrates using radio frequency (RF) and direct current (DC) sputtering at room temperature. Due to the occurrence of destructive interference at the metal and oxide interface, the S/A/S structure exhibited excellent optical properties. As the thickness of the top and bottom oxide layers was increased, the transmittance spectrum was red-shifted due to partial wave interference at the Ag interface. Change in thickness of the top oxide layer had a greater effect on the transmittance than that of the bottom oxide layer. This was due to the difference in refractive index occurring at each interface. Change in Ag thickness shifted the absorption edge in the short wavelength region. Whereas electrical properties, such as sheet resistance and carrier concentration, were found to be dependent on thickness of the sandwiched metal layer. An excellent figure of merit of 63.20 × 10 - 3 Ω - 1 was obtained when the thickness of the Ag layer was 11 nm, and the top and bottom oxide layer thickness were 45 and 60 nm, respectively. These values suggest promising optoelectronic properties and are encouraging for future transparent electrode applications.