Flash-Lamp Annealing for Enhanced Electrical and Optical Properties of AZO/AgNW/ZnO Transparent Conductive Films

초록

Transparent conductive oxides act as transparent electrodes in touch screens, flat panel displays, and solar cells. Their unique optical properties, such as visible light transmission and infrared reflection, enable applications such as low-emissivity windows, infrared reflectors, gas sensors, photocatalysts, and even plasmonic devices. Current market is dominated by indium tin oxide with indium belonging to the critical raw material. Therefore, there is a strong need for alternatives such as aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO). In this work, we present the influence of the millisecond (ms)-range flash lamp annealing (FLA) on structural, optical, and electrical properties of AZO films decorated with silver nanowires (AgNWs). The FLA for 23 ms improves the layer conductivity by five times, the transmittance in the visible spectral range improves by about 5% for the sample with 1.0 mg/mL AgNWs and the figure of merit increases by an order of magnitude. The scanning electron microscopy images show the formation of nanojunctions at the crossing points of Ag NWs that is mainly responsible for the improvement of electrical conductivity, while improved crystallinity of the entire coating increases the transmittance.

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