Super ITO: Transparent “Highly” Conducting Epitaxial ITO Film with Atomically Flat Surface

[ Appl. Phys. Lett. 2000/ J. Appl. Phys. 2002/ Adv. Mater. 2003/ Adv. Mater. 2004 ]

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Highly electrically conductive indium-tin-oxide thin films were epitaxially grown on an extremely flat (100) surface of yttria-stabilized zirconia single-crystal substrates at a substrate temperature of 600oC by a pulsed-laser deposition technique. A resistivity down to 7.7×10-5 Ohmcm was reproducibly obtained, maintaining optical transmission exceeding 85% at wavelengths from 340 to 780 nm. The carrier densities of the films were enhanced up to 1.9×1021 cm-3, while the Hall mobility showed a slight, almost linear, decrease from 55 to 40 cm2V-1s-1 with increasing SnO2 concentration. The low resistivity is most likely the result of the good crystal quality of the films.