Ag/M-seed/AZO/glass structures for low-E glass: Effects of metal seeds

In this work, continuous and conductive ultrathin Ag films with highly infrared reflective and highly visible transmittance were achieved using several metal seeds (Ti, Nb, Cr, Ni, Mo, Pt, Cu, and Ru), having similar to 1-2nm in thickness, deposited between Ag and dielectric AZO layers on glass substrate by magnetron sputtering with confocal target geometry. The optical properties in the visible and infrared ranges and conductivity of Ag/M-seed/AZO/glass structures were compared in order to determine the influence of the seeds. It was observed that all M-Seeds increased both visible transmittance and infrared reflectance. But also, it was shown that Nb and Ti seed layers which help on coalesced of Ag and AZO layers are more effective on the electro-optical characteristics of the Ag thin films than the other seeds. Ag/Nb/AZO/glass and Ag/Ti/AZO/glass structures showed 2.81 and 2.84 / sheet resistance and low surface roughness, respectively, which are the best film structures. In addition, these films have homogeneous and defect-free surfaces that do not cause any electrical breakdown. Besides, Nb and Ti seeded structures have the low-emissivity both 780-2500nm and long wavelength ( > 3m) spectral region as 0.0357 and 0.0361, respectively.