Manganese-doped transparent conductive magnetic indium oxide films integrated on flexible mica substrates with high mechanical durability

Abstract

Recent advances in flexible electronic devices have stimulated demands for the fabrication of multifunctional materials on highly flexible substrates. However, flexible diluted magnetic semiconductor films have been inadequately reported thus far. In this study, I grew polycrystalline manganese (Mn)-doped indium oxide (In2O3) films on flexible mica substrates at three deposition temperatures (Td) using the pulsed laser deposition method. All the investigated Mn-doped In2O3 films exhibited high optical transparency, high electrical conductivity, room-temperature ferromagnetism, and excellent mechanical durability. The present experimental results demonstrate that Td considerably influences the optical, electrical, and magnetic properties as well as the mechanical durability of the flexible Mn-doped In2O3 films. Based on the robustness of inorganic mica at high deposition temperatures, this detailed investigation provides a strategy for fabricating flexible diluted magnetic semiconductor films, the properties of which could be carefully optimized by widely varying the Td.