Development of transparent AZO-Ag-AZO electrodes using Xenon flash lamp annealing and application of transparent OLED

초록

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) is widely used as an electrode in various electronic devices as well as in the semiconductor and display industries. Among TCOs, indium tin oxide (ITO) is distinguished by its excellent transmittance and low resistivity, and it accounts for 90% of the material used in the TCO industry. However, it is plagued by the continuously increasing cost of indium, poor mechanical strength, and the need for a postannealing process exceeding 250 degrees C. The current study has produced an AZO-Ag-AZO multilayer electrode with high conductivity and transmittance by depositing Ag between the AZO layers as a substitute for ITO. Additionally, to enhance the electrooptical characteristics of the manufactured multilayer electrode, Xenon flash lamp annealing (Xe-FLA) was employed as a post-annealing technique. By selecting optimal Ag thickness, flash lamp voltage, and radiant energy density conditions, an exceptional transparent AZO-Ag-AZO with a low sheet resistance of 10.1 Omega/sq and a high transmittance of 92.63 % was successfully created. Furthermore, to explore the feasibility of using the AZO-Ag-AZO electrode under optimal conditions as an Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED) anode, a transparent RED OLED device was fabricated by depositing organic, cathode, and CPL layers on the AZO-Ag-AZO.

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