Abstract
Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) thin films are being used extensively as transparent conductors in several applications. In the present communication, we report the electrical transport in DC magnetron sputtered ITO thin films (prepared at 300 K and subsequently annealed at 673 K in vacuum for 60 minutes) in low temperatures (25-300 K). The low temperature Hall effect and resistivity measurements reveal that the ITO thin films are moderately dis-ordered (kFl∼1; kF is the Fermi wave vector and l is the electron mean free path) and degenerate semiconductors. The transport of charge carriers (electrons) in these disordered ITO thin films takes place via the de-localized states. The disorder effects lead to the well-known ‘metal-insulator transition’ (MIT) which is observed at 110 K in these ITO thin films. The MIT in ITO thin films is explained by the quantum correction to the conductivity (QCC); this approach is based on the inclusion of quantum-mechanical interference effects in Boltzmann’s expression of the conductivity of the disordered systems. The insulating behaviour observed in ITO thin films below the MIT temperature is attributed to the combined effect of the weak localization and the electron-electron interactions.
Highlights
The study of electrical transport in amorphous and disordered system has drawn the attention of several researchers[1] over the past three decades
In the low temperature regime there is a significant contribution of the quantum-mechanical interference effects,[2] termed as quantum correction to conductivity (QCC)
It is meditative that the quantum correction to the conductivity (QCC) formulation explores the transport of charge carriers rigor in low temperature which depends on the disorder and the effective dimensionality of the system
Summary
The study of electrical transport in amorphous and disordered system has drawn the attention of several researchers[1] over the past three decades. In the low temperature regime there is a significant contribution of the quantum-mechanical interference effects,[2] termed as quantum correction to conductivity (QCC). It is meditative that the QCC formulation explores the transport of charge carriers rigor in low temperature which depends on the disorder and the effective dimensionality of the system. This effect has been reported well (at low temperature) to explain the electronic transport in many disordered systems, SrRuO3,3 LaNiO3,4 CdMnTe,[5] InGaN,[6] Ga:ZnO,[7] etc. Low temperature resistivity measurement shows metal-insulator transition in disordered ITO thin film. The metal–insulator transition is explained in the frame work of quantum correction to the conductivity (QCC)
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