Dependences of Sputtering Times on the Structural and Electrical Properties of ZnO/Ag/ZnO Thin Films on PET by DC Sputtering

Transparent conductive oxide thin films are utilized as transparent electrode materials used in various displays due to its high conductivity and penetration ratio in a visible ray of spectrum. Indium zinc oxide (ITO) is one of the most widely used transparent conductive oxide films. However, recently replaceable resources have become imperative due to the increased price of indium used as the raw material. Zinc oxide (ZnO) has drawn attention as an alternative material for ITO due to its low cost, abundance, and eco-friendly characteristics. Much of the research work has been conducted because of its advantages. Meanwhile, due to the appearance of flexible thin film, researchers´ attention to investigate the thin films on polyethylene terephthalate (PET) is continuously increasing. We studied the structural and electrical properties of ZnO/Ag/ZnO films which were deposited onto PET substrate at room temperature with the inclined opposite target type dc magnetron sputtering equipment. The ZnO/Ag/ZnO multilayer films having high transmittance of 78.3% and low sheet resistance of 1.974 Ω/sq are successfully fabricated and can be reproduced by controlling the preparation process parameters properly.