Room temperature fabricated HIZO/Ag/HIZO multilayer electrodes for energy-efficient transparent thin film heaters

초록

The advancement of energy-efficient transparent thin-film heaters (TTFHs) is crucial for next-generation smart windows, vehicle defogging, anti-icing optics, and thermally controlled displays. This study presents sputterdeposited Hf-In-Zn-O/Ag/Hf-In-Zn-O (HIZO/Ag/HIZO, termed HAH) OMO multilayers developed completely at room temperature, with systematically controlled Ag interlayer thicknesses ranging from 5 to 13 nm. Atomic force microscopy reveals an amorphous, tightly packed granular arrangement, whereby increased Ag thickness facilitates the transition between island-like clusters to uniform metallic percolation, resulting in decreased surface roughness. Hall measurements indicate a reduction in sheet resistance and resistivity with increasing Ag thickness, ascribed to improved carrier injection from the Ag interlayer and less interface scattering. Thin-film heater devices constructed from HAH multilayers demonstrate fast thermal response and enhanced saturation temperature of 191oC at reduced working voltages of 6V, with efficacy greatly determined by Ag thickness. The research results indicate that optimized HIZO/Ag/HIZO multilayers provide a viable, lowtemperature processing method for high-efficiency transparent heating platforms.

키워드