Purely hopping conduction in c-axis oriented LiNbO3 thin films

Abstract

Dielectric constant and ac conductivity of highly c-axis oriented LiNbO3 thin film grown by pulsed laser deposition were studied in a metal-insulator-metal configuration over a wide temperature (200 to 450 K) and frequency (100 Hz to 1 MHz) range. The preferred oriented Al (1%) doped ZnO film with electrical conductivity 1.1×103 Ω−1 cm−1 was deposited for dual purpose: (1) to serve as nucleating center for LiNbO3 crystallites along preferred c-axis growth direction, and (2) to act as a suitable bottom electrode for electrical studies. The room temperature dc conductivity (σdc) of LiNbO3 film was about 5.34×10−10 Ω−1 cm−1 with activation energy ∼0.3 eV, indicating extrinsic conduction. The ac conductivity σac was found to be much higher in comparison to σdc in the low temperature region (<300 K) and exhibits a power law behavior due to the hopping of charge carriers. In higher temperature region (>300 K), σac shows a weak frequency dependence, whereas dielectric constant exhibits a strong frequency dispersion. The dielectric dispersion data has been discussed in the light of theoretical models based on Debye type mixed conduction and purely hopping conduction. The dominant conduction in c-axis oriented LiNbO3 thin film is attributed to the purely hopping where both σdc and σac arise due to same mechanism.