Anomalous Electron Accumulation at Al2O3/in2O3 Interface Via Short-Range Ordered Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Abstract

Transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films, which is one of the widely used as window electrodes at the various devices, fulfil high electrical conductivity and optical transparency in the visible region of spectrum. Conventional TCO films are formed by the tuning charge transport of wide band gap oxides like indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO), zinc oxide (ZnO), tin dioxide (SnO2), and indium oxide (In2O3). Among the various TCO candidates, In2O3 is an attractive TCO candidate since In2O3 can satisfied the visible transparency and high carrier density via doping processes. To achieve the high mobility In2O3 films, doping processes with metal dopants such as Ti, Zr, Mo, and W have been suggested by many previous study. Intrinsic In2O3, however, has n-type semiconductor due to its native oxygen vacancy act as n-type donor and indium interstitial. As another approach to gain highly conductivity TCOs, two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) channel can be suggested since 2DEG channel can be applied to increase the electrical conductivity of oxide semiconductors up to the metallic conduction level. The tuning of electrical and optical properties in oxides via surface and interfacial 2DEG channels is of great interest, as they reveal the extraordinary transition from insulating or semiconducting characteristics to metallic conduction or superconductivity enabled by the ballistic transport of spatially-confined electrons. Although most previous studies have been carried out in crystalline phase like single crystal SrTiO3 or III-V compound semiconductor, realizing practical aspects of this exotic phenomenon toward short-range ordered and air-stable 2DEG channels remains a great challenge. In this study, we fabricated Al2O3/In2O3 heterojunction system on soda-lime glass consisting of In2O3 deposited by RF reactive sputter with a thickness from 8 to 100 nm and Al2O3 deposited by ALD with a thickness below 100 nm. We suggest that Al2O3/In2O3 heterojunction acts as short-range ordered 2DEG channel with a low temperature (~200 ℃). After deposition of Al2O3 layer, the heterojunction two-dimensional metallic channel was fabricated between Al2O3 and In2O3 interface as showing the metallic conduction with sheet charge density > 10 14/cm2, sheet resistance of 850 Ω/cm2, room temperature Hall mobility of 20.5cm2 V-1 sec-1 depending on the In2O3 thickness. To prove existence of 2DEG channel at the interface, we performed the I-V measurement, time of flight secondary ion mass spectrometry, ultraviolet-visible spectrophotometer, tunneling electron microscope–electron energy loss spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and Hall measurement.