Parameters of ZnS/Metal/ZnS nanostructured systems with different metal layers

ZnS/metal/ZnS (ZMZ) nanomultilayer films with Au, Ag and Cu as a metal layer have been deposited on a glass substrate by thermal evaporation and then, were annealed in air at different temperatures from 100 to 300 ºC for one hour. Several analytical tools such as X-ray diffraction, four point probe and spectrophotometer were used to study the changes in structural, electrical and optical properties of the samples. XRD patterns show that the crystallinity of structures and also grain size of particles increases with increasing the annealing temperature. Improved electrical property (a sheet resistance of 7 Ω/sq for ZnS/Au/ZnS) and considerable improvement in the transmittance curves (86% maximum transmittance for ZnS/Au/ZnS) of the samples after heat treatment at 200ºC was observed. Also, the optical constants of the ZMZ multilayer samples were calculated from transmittance and reflectance measurements. The figure of merit was applied on the ZMZ coatings and the most suitable films and annealing temperature for the application as transparent conductive electrodes were determined.