TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - METALLURGY - Preferred Composition: The alloy comprises (%) silver (Ag) (97-99, preferably 98), palladium (Pd) (0.3-0.8, preferably 0.5), and copper (Cu) (1.2-1.8, preferably 1.5). Preferred Property: The thickness of the two surrounding alloy layers is 30-60 (preferably 30-45) nm, and that of Ag/Pd/Cu layer is 7-20 (preferably 12-16) nm.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ELECTRONICS - Preferred Process: The thin-film deposition technique is sputtering, ion beam deposition, chemical vapor deposition, ion beam enhanced deposition, or laser ablation deposition. The film formation method further comprises purging the surface of the flexible plastic substrate prior to deposition with argon and oxygen, argon, or argon and nitrogen plasma, and post-deposition annealing. Preferred Parameter: The sputtering can be a DC magnetron sputtering performed at a maximum sputter power of 300-2000 watts. The indium cerium oxide (InCeO) layers, ITO layers, and Ag/Pd/Cu alloy are sputtered at a power of 600-800, 600, and 70-90 or 80-100 watts, respectively. The deposition distance for DC magnetron sputtering is 2-12 (preferably 9-11) inches. The line speed during deposition is at most4 (preferably 0.7-0.8) ft/minute. The post-deposition annealing is performed at 130-250degreesC for 0.5-2 hours. Preferred Property: The composite film has a transmittance and a brightness of at least80%, and an electrical resistance of at most20 (preferably at most5) OMEGA/square. It has a root-mean-square roughness of at most5 (preferably at most1.5) nm. It is stable to a 500-hour exposure at 60degreesC and 90% relative humidity, and has great interlayer adhesion to survive a 180degrees peel adhesion test. It has a red to green shift (a) of 0-7 and a blue to yellow shift (b) of 0-7. The multilayered electrode/substrate structure has a surface roughness of less than 8 nm and a driving voltage of less than 20 volts.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - INORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Gas: The DC sputtering is performed in an atmosphere that contains argon, and optionally oxygen. Preferred Parameter: The flow rate of oxygen is 0.2-3.75 (preferably 0.2-2) cubic centimillitor, and that of argon is 5-20 (preferably 10) cubic centimillitor.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - POLYMERS - Preferred Component: The multilayer electrode/substrate structure includes a conductive material that is a light-emitting polymer. Preferred Material: The flexible plastic substrate is polyethylene terephthalate (PET), polyethylene naphthalate (PEN), polyethersulfone (PES), polycarbonate (PC), polysulfone, phenolic resin, epoxy resin, polyester, polyimide, polyetherester, polyetheramide, cellulose acetate, aliphatic polyurethanes, polyacrylonitrile, polytetrafluoroethylenes, polyvinylidene fluorides, poly(methyl alpha-methacrylates), or an aliphatic or cyclic polyolefin. The cyclic polyolefin is poly(bis(cyclopentadiene)). The polyester is aromatic polyester. The plastic substrate is reinforced with an acrylic coating. The light-emitting polymer is poly(p-phenylenevinylene) (PPV), poly(dialkoxyphenylenevinylene), poly(thiophene), poly(fluorene), poly(phenylene), poly(phenylacetylene), poly(aniline), poly(3-alkylthiophene), poly(3-octylthiophene), or poly(N-vinylcarbazole).    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - ORGANIC CHEMISTRY - Preferred Component: The multilayered electrode/substrate structure includes a conductive material that is a luminescent organic or organometallic material. Preferred Material: The luminescent organic or organometallic material is metal ion salts of 8-hydroxyquinolate, trivalent metal (bridged) quinolate complexes, Schiff base divalent metal complexes, tin(IV) metal complexes, metal acetylacetonate complexes, metal bidendate ligand complexes incorporating an organic ligand comprising 2-picolylketones, 2-quinaldylketones or 2-(o-phenoxy) pyridine ketones, bisphosphonates, divalent metal maleonitriledithiolate complexes, molecular charge transfer complexes, rare earth mixed chelates, (5-hydroxy) quinoxaline metal complexes, or aluminum tris-quinolates.