Structural, optical and electrical characterization of ITO, ITO/Ag and ITO/Ni transparent conductive electrodes

We report on the transparent conductive oxides (TCO) characteristics based on the indium tin oxides (ITO) and ITO/metal thin layer as an electrode for optoelectronics device applications. ITO, ITO/Ag and ITO/Ni were deposited on Si and glass substrate by thermal evaporator and radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature. Post deposition annealing was performed on the samples in air at moderate temperature of 500 °C and 600 °C. The structural, optical and electrical properties of the ITO and ITO/metal were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–Vis spectrophotometer, Hall effect measurement system and atomic force microscope (AFM). The XRD spectrum reveals significant polycrystalline peaks of ITO (2 2 2) and Ag (1 1 1) after post annealing process. The post annealing also improves the visible light transmittance and electrical resistivity of the samples. Figure of merit (FOM) of the ITO, ITO/Ag and ITO/Ni were determined as 5.5 × 10−3 Ω−1, 8.4 × 10−3 Ω−1 and 3.0 × 10−5 Ω−1, respectively. The results show that the post annealed ITO with Ag intermediate layer improved the efficiency of the transparent conductive electrodes (TCE) as compared to the ITO and ITO/Ni.