in this work, indium zinc oxide (IZO) films have been deposited on a polyethylene terephthalate substrate coated with an SiQ(x) film. Based on a comparative investigation of an IZO monolayer and an IZO/SiOx multilayer, it is shown that oxygen has a great effect on the electrical properties of the thin films. A mechanism is described to explain the influence of the introduced SiQ(x) buffer layer. It is considered that an interfacial layer has come into being at the interface between the SiOx layer and IZO layer, and the properties of this layer have been evaluated. Moreover, the electrical properties of the IZO/SiQ(x) multilayer have been successfully improved by controlling the oxygen content of the interfacial layer. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.