High-Quality Zno/Ag/Zno Multilayer with Ultra-High Flexibility and Excellent Photoelectric Performance Prepared by Sputtering

In this study, ZAZ films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering. The influence of Ag thickness on the crystalline properties, microstructure, photoelectric performance, long-term stability, and flexibility properties of ZAZ films was investigated in detail. With increasing Ag thickness, the Ag (111) peak became stronger, but the diffraction peak of ZnO (002) became weaker, and the grain size and roughness of the film increased. Moreover, the sheet resistance and resistivity of ZAZ films decreased significantly with the increased Ag thickness. The average transmission increased first and then decreased, and the mobility and carrier concentration increased. FDTD method was used to simulate the film's transmittance and verify the accuracy of the experimental results. The ZnO/Ag(9nm)/ZnO film had the optimal photoelectric characteristics: sheet resistance of 8.3 Ω/sq, mobility of 13.2 cm 2 ·v -1 ·s -1 , carrier concentration of 7.27×10 21 cm -3 , resistivity of 9.16×10 -5 Ω·cm, and average transmittance of 91.8%, showing a figure of merit value of 50.9 ×10 -3 Ω -1 . Moreover, the ZAZ film maintained excellent long-term stability within 180 days under 25 °C/65% RH. Compared to the ITO film, the ZAZ film on PET possesses extraordinary flexibility and durability under continuous bending with the cyclic bending test.