Substantial consideration is being devoted to the innovation of AC Conductivity, sheet resistance measurements and Microhardness as a function of Cu
interlayer thickness of conductive ZnO/Cu/ZnO thin films. ZnO layer was
successfully prepared via atomic layer deposition (ALD), while Cu interlayer
was deposited by Dc magnetron sputtering. The combination of ZnO/Cu/ZnO
with constant ZnO thickness (70 nm) and variable Cu interlayer thickness (20,
50 and 70 nm), has its own individuality in enhancing the performance of the
electrical and mechanical properties. The proposed methodology based on the
previously published data of the structural characterization, proved to be very
effective. The study of (XRD) and (SEM) revealed an increase in particle size
with the increase in Cu content. The outcome of the absorption measurements
supports the existence of allowed direct transition for ZnO/Cu/ZnO thin films,
and the optical energy gap is strongly dependent on the amount of Cu interlayer
thickness. The AC conductivity is explored in the frequency range of (1 MHz–
1 GHz) and the temperature range of (293 to 423 K). At different frequencies AC
conductivity measurements demonstrate a decrement with the increment of Cu
content. An agreement between experimental and theoretical results suggests
that the behavior of AC conductivity can be successfully explained by Correlated Barrier Hopping (CBH) model, to elucidate the conduction mechanism existing in our ZnO/Cu/ZnO system. A superior combination between
mechanical and electrical properties was evaluated by Vickers hardness and the
4-point technique. The obtained results demonstrate that the layer thickness and
the layer thickness ratio of ZnO and Cu are the important parameters which are
responsible for the improvement of structural, electrical and mechanical properties of ZnO/Cu/ZnO multilayer films. These findings pave the way for the
future development of novel energy devices and photocatalytic and absorption
applications.
|
