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Thin-film transparent heaters (TFTHs) are gaining popularity in optoelectronics and a variety of domestic applications, including smart windows, car defrosters, and other devices. The deposition and characterization of TFTHs made of gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) are presented in this work. GZO thin films were deposited via pulsed laser deposition on glass substrates with varying oxygen partial pressures from 0 to 10 mTorr during deposition. The samples demonstrated very low sheet resistance values between 5 and 17 Ω/sq from 0 to 10 mTorr, respectively. UV/vis transmission spectra revealed that TFTHs have a high optical transparency above 80%. GZO-based TFTHs demonstrated a consistent and repeatable joule heating effect, with temperatures reaching 76 °C with a low input voltage of 10 V. This research could guide the future use of GZO as a transparent conducting oxide material for many potential cost-effective applications from low-powered electronics to lightweight and wearable devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With a metal to insulator transition (MIT) temperature of ∼68 °C to 70 °C, which is close to room temperature (RT), vanadium oxide (VO2) has piqued interest in research communities for several applications, such as Mott-transistors and smart windows. This unique characteristic and multi-faceted application of VO2 makes it ideal for several fields, from consumer electronics to defense applications. However, despite this advantage over several other materials, VO2 has some serious shortcomings. In this paper, we attempt to address these issues, such as higher than RT transition temperature, metastability of the material, and its need for a separate heater layer to trigger the MIT, by using a stoichiometrically downgraded multi-layered structure that can both demonstrate the MIT property and serve as an embedded heater layer. This eliminates the need to use a system with a different material such as aluminum-doped zinc oxide. By using the multi-layered structure, we were able to achieve a transition temperature of ∼48 °C, which is ∼22 °C lower than the transition temperature of bulk VO2 films. We also noted a reduction of over 50% in transmission in the infra-red region by application of less than 15 V, as well as an enhancement of ∼10% in the visible region transmission beyond the MIT temperature, which demonstrates the potential of this structure to be used as an energy-efficient smart window device. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]