Stabilisation Attempts of the Electrical and Optical Properties of Oxide/Cu/Oxide Structures Through the Use of Different Cu:M Alloys

Abstract

In the near future many optoelectronic devices should be flexible therefore it is necessary to look for a new transparent electrode, ITO, the most often used transparent electrode, being brittle. Oxide/Metal/Oxide structures were shown to be highly promising as substituent to ITO. However, the metal the most often used, Ag, is quite expensive. Cu is a possible substituent to Ag, but it diffuses strongly in the oxide layers. In order to stabilize the Cu alloy, we use Cu alloys: Cu:Ni, Cu:Al. We show that using such alloys allows increasing the electrode stability. The introduction of a thin, 2nm, Ag layer, further improves the electrode stability. Finally we show that WO3/Cu:M/WO3 electrodes can be used successfully as anode in organic solar cells.