Preparation and Properties of Flexible Multilayered Transparent Conductive Films on Substrate with High Surface Roughness.

The flexible transparent conductive films (TCFs) of a ZnS/Cu/Ag/TiO multilayered structure were deposited on a flexible PET substrate with high surface roughness using magnetic sputtering, and the effects of structural characteristics on the performance of the films were analyzed. The TCFs with TiO/Cu/Ag/TiO and ZnS/Cu/Ag/ZnS symmetric structures were also prepared for comparison. The TCF samples were deposited using ZnS, TiO, Cu and Ag targets, and they were analyzed using scanning electronic microscopy, atomic force microscopy, grazing incidence X-ray diffraction, spectrophotometry and a four-probe tester. The TCFs exhibit generally uniform surface morphology, excellent light transmittance and electrical conductivity with optimized structure. The optimal values are 84.40%, 5.52 Ω/sq and 33.19 × 10 Ω for the transmittance, sheet resistance and figure of merit, respectively, in the visible spectrum. The satisfactory properties of the asymmetric multilayered TCF deposited on a rough-surface substrate should be mainly attributed to the optimized structure parameters and reasonable interfacial compatibilities.