The electronic transport mechanism in indium molybdenum oxide thin films RF sputtered at room temperature

Abstract

Indium molybdenum oxide (IMO) thin films were radio-frequency (RF) sputtered at room temperature (RT) and studied as a function of base pressure (BP). The crystallinity of the films is decreased with the increase in BP. A maximum mobility (μ) of 49.6 cm2 V−1 s−1 was obtained from the IMO films deposited at RT without any post-annealing treatment. The electronic behaviour of the deposited films was investigated by temperature-dependent (100–550 K) Hall measurements. Study on the scattering mechanisms based on the experimental data and theoretical models show that the ionized scattering centres are dominating. The films possess wide work function (4.91 eV) and high transmittance (> 70%) over visible and near infrared (NIR) range. The obtained results, especially the high work function and NIR transmittance, are very promising particularly in applications such as optical detectors and solar cells.