We compared the electrical, optical, structural and surface properties of indium-free Ga-doped ZnO (GZO)/Ag/GZO and Al-doped ZnO(AZO)/Ag/AZO multilayer electrodes deposited by dual target direct current sputtering at room temperature for low-cost organic photovoltaics. It was shown that the electrical and optical properties of the GZO/Ag/GZO and AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer electrodes could be improved by the insertion of an Ag layer with optimized thickness between oxide layers, due to its very low resistivity and surface plasmon effect. In addition, the Auger electron spectroscopy depth profile results for the GZO/Ag/GZO and AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer electrodes showed no interfacial reaction between the Ag layer and GZO or AZO layer, due to the low preparation temperature and the stability of the Ag layer. Moreover, the bulk heterojunction organic solar cell fabricated on the multilayer electrodes exhibited higher power conversion efficiency than the organic solar cells fabricated on the single GZO or AZO layer, due to much lower sheet resistance of the multilayer electrode. This indicates that indium free GZO/Ag/GZO and AZO/Ag/AZO multilayer electrodes area promising low-cost and low-temperature processing electrode scheme for low-cost organic photovoltaics. (C) 2009 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.