Effect of annealing temperature on the structural and optical properties of silver oxide thin films prepared by thermal evaporation with subsequent annealing

In this study, silver oxide thin films were deposited on silicon and glass substrates using thermal evaporation techniques without oxygen atmosphere with subsequent annealing in air. The deposited films were annealed in air at 100 and 450 C○ respectively. Optical properties show very low transparency at lower oxidation temperature. The transparency increased to an average value of55 % when applying annealing temperature of 450 C○. The optical band gap of Ag2O thin films increases from 0.92 eV to 1.73 eV as the annealing temperature increases from 100°C to 450°C.