The study of electron scattering mechanisms in single crystal oxide nanowires

Abstract

We report on transport measurements of individual Sn doped In2O3 nanowires. From these measurements we point out that spin–orbit and boundary scattering mechanisms seem to give a negligible contribution to the transport of electrons in these nanowires. In fact, these results can be extended to other oxide systems: the presence of a weak disorder arising from the random potential at the boundaries screen electrons away from the surface into the nanowire. Electrons travelling through the nanowire in inner conducting channels are not directly influenced by the surfaces and the boundary scattering is decreased. These findings were also supported by calculations of the electron distribution in the cross-section of the nanowires when some disorder is taken into account.