Electron transport and defect structure in highly conducting reactively sputtered ultrathin tin oxide films

Journal Article · Mon Feb 24 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4866869· OSTI ID:22293058

Bansal, Shikha; Kashyap, Subhash C. ^[1]

---

1. Thin Film Laboratory, Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016 (India)

Electrical conduction behavior of ultrathin (5–110 nm) SnO{sub 2} films reactively sputtered at 150–400 °C substrate temperatures is presented. The surface roughness studies revealed that the films with lower thickness were smoother (≤0.6 nm). Stoichiometry/defect structure of the films obtained from X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data and electron mobility are found to be dependent on film thickness and substrate temperature. The observed increase in conductivity of semi-metallic films with decrease in film thickness is attributed to changes in defect structure and surface roughness. Highest value of conductivity of about 715 Ω{sup −1} cm{sup −1} is obtained for 5 nm thick films deposited at 300 °C.

• OSTI ID: 22293058
• Journal Information: Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 8; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0003-6951
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
DEPOSITION
ELECTRON MOBILITY
ELECTRON TRANSFER
ELECTRONS
ROUGHNESS
SPUTTERING
STOICHIOMETRY
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THICKNESS
THIN FILMS
TIN OXIDES
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY