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Optical and Electrical Properties of Multilayer Grid Electrodes for Highly Durable Transparent Conductive Electrodes

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Abstract

We report on the optical and electrical properties of MgZnO/Ag/MgZnO (MAM) grid electrodes grown at room temperature; these are proposed as an alternative to metal-based grid electrodes to meet the requirement for high stability in a harsh environment. The optical transmittance of Ag grid electrodes improved when the Ag grid layer was embedded in an MgZnO grid layer regardless of the fill factor. This improvement depends critically on the Ag grid layer thickness in the MAM grid electrodes. The Haack figure of merit for a MAM grid electrode with a 20 nm-thick Ag grid layer was approximately threefold higher than that of an Ag grid electrode. The electrode has an average transmittance of 85.8% at wavelengths range from 400 to 1100 nm and a sheet resistance of 26.9 Ω/sq. These results indicate that MAM grid electrodes can be an alternative to metal-based grid electrodes in optoelectronic devices that require stable wideband operation in a harsh environment and over a wide wavelength region.

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Abbreviations

R :

Sheet resistance

G :

Spacing size between grid lines

W :

Width of grid metal lines

T :

Transmittance

τ :

Correction factor

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the MSIT (Ministry of Science and ICT), Korea, under the ITRC (Information Technology Research Center) support program (IITP-2019-2018-0-01426) supervised by the IITP(Institute for Information & Communications Technology Planning & Evaluation), and by Human Resources Program in the Transportation Specialized Lighting Core Technology Development (No. N0001364) and by the Technology Innovation Program (20002694, Gas sensor) Granted financial resource from the Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy, Republic of Korea.

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  1. Hyo-Ju Lee and Ki-Yeop Cho contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, 123 Cheomdangwagi-ro, Buk-gu, Gwangju, 61005, Republic of Korea

    Hyo-Ju Lee, Ki-Yeop Cho & Seong-Ju Park

  2. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Michigan, 1301 Beal Avenue, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Semi Oh

  3. Department of Nano Optical Engineering, Korea Polytechnic University, 237 Sangidaehak-ro, Siheung-si, Gyeonggi-do, 15073, Republic of Korea

    So-Yeon Park, Ye-Bin Im, Suyeon Son & Kyoung-Kook Kim

  4. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 291 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34141, Republic of Korea

    Yong-Jin Yoon

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  1. Hyo-Ju Lee
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Lee, HJ., Cho, KY., Oh, S. et al. Optical and Electrical Properties of Multilayer Grid Electrodes for Highly Durable Transparent Conductive Electrodes. Int. J. of Precis. Eng. and Manuf.-Green Tech. 8, 501–508 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40684-020-00205-7

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