Optimization and device application potential of oxide–metal–oxide transparent electrode structure

Abstract

Structural optimization of the indium zinc oxide (IZO)–Ag–IZO oxide–metal–oxide (OMO) transparent flexible electrode structure was carried out in terms of the thickness of the Ag layer based on the Haacke figure of merit. While showing sufficient sheet resistance and visible transmittance, the optimized OMO structure also exhibited good resistance to fracture under repeated bending which resulted in very small change in sheet resistance over the 10 000 cycles of repeated bending. Low sheet resistance was found to be beneficial to lowering the contact resistances at the source and drain electrodes when the OMO structure was applied to a model thin film transistor (TFT) as revealed in the improved device performances. Device application potential of the OMO structure was demonstrated in a fully transparent TFT formed on a glass substrate in which the source, drain, and back gate electrodes were all formed using the OMO structure.