Hydrogen-driven dramatically improved mechanical properties of amorphized ITO–Ag–ITO thin films

An oxide/metal/oxide (OMO) multi-structure, which has good electrical, optical, and mechanical stability, was studied as a potential replacement of polycrystalline In–Sn–O (ITO). However, the degradation of mechanical properties caused by the polycrystalline structure of the top layer forming on the polycrystalline metal layer needs to be improved. To address this issue, we introduced hydrogen in the oxide layers to form a stabilized amorphous oxide structure despite it being deposited on the polycrystalline layer. An ITO/Ag/ITO (IAI) structure was used in this work, and we confirmed that the correct amount of hydrogen introduction can improve mechanical stability without any deterioration in optical and electrical properties. The hydrogen presence in the IAI as intended was confirmed, and the assumption was that the hydrogen suppressed the formation of microcracks on the ITO surface due to low residual stress that came from decreased subgap level defects. This assumption was clearly confirmed with the electrical properties before and after dynamic bending testing. The results imply that we can adjust not only IAI structures with high mechanical stability due to the right amount of hydrogen introduction to make stabilized amorphous oxide but also almost all oxide/metal/oxide structures that contain unintended polycrystalline structures.