Same Precursor, Two Different Products: Comparing the Structural Evolution of In–Ga–O “Gel-Derived” Powders and Solution-Cast Films Using Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Wood, Suzannah R.; Woods, Keenan N.; Plassmeyer, Paul N.; Marsh, David A.; Johnson, Darren W.; Page, Catherine J.; Jensen, Kirsten M.  Ø.; Johnson, David C.

doi:10.1021/jacs.7b02097

Title: Same Precursor, Two Different Products: Comparing the Structural Evolution of In–Ga–O “Gel-Derived” Powders and Solution-Cast Films Using Pair Distribution Function Analysis

Journal Article · 22 March 2017 · Journal of the American Chemical Society

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/jacs.7b02097 · OSTI ID:1418573

^[1]; Woods, Keenan N. ^[1]; Plassmeyer, Paul N. ^[1]; Marsh, David A. ^[1];

^[1];

^[1]; Jensen, Kirsten M. Ø. ^[2];

^[1]

Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR (United States). Dept. of Chemistry and Biochemistry. Material Science Inst.
Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark). Dept. of Chemistry

Amorphous metal oxides are central to a variety of technological applications. In particular, indium gallium oxide has garnered attention as a thin-film transistor channel layer material. We examine the structural evolution of indium gallium oxide gel-derived powders and thin films using infrared vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis of X-ray total scattering from standard and normal incidence thin-film geometries (tfPDF). We find that the gel-derived powders and films from the same aqueous precursor evolve differently with temperature, forming mixtures of Ga-substituted In₂O₃ and In-substituted β-Ga₂O₃ with different degrees of substitution. X-ray total scattering and PDF analysis indicate that the majority phase for both the powders and films is an amorphous/nanocrystalline β-Ga₂O₃ phase, with a minor constituent of In₂O₃ with significantly larger coherence lengths. This amorphous β-Ga₂O₃ phase could not be identified using the conventional Bragg diffraction techniques traditionally used to study crystalline metal oxide thin films. The combination of Bragg diffraction and tfPDF provides a much more complete description of film composition and structure, which can be used to detail the effect of processing conditions and structure–property relationships. This study also demonstrates how structural features of amorphous materials, traditionally difficult to characterize by standard diffraction, can be elucidated using tfPDF.

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Research Organization:: Univ. of Oregon, Eugene, OR (United States); Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Danish Research Council (Denmark)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-06CH11357; CHE-1606982

OSTI ID:: 1418573

Journal Information:: Journal of the American Chemical Society, Vol. 139, Issue 15; ISSN 0002-7863

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 12 works

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