Structural and electrical properties of indium oxide thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition in oxygen ambient

Abstract We report results of structural, optical and electrical transport studies of indium oxide (IO) thin films grown by Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) under various oxygen gas pressures and using different substrates at 350° C. We find that the morphology and electrical resistivity of these films which are highly transparent changes drastically as O 2 pressure increases into mbar range, irrespective of substrate. A systematic increase in resistivity, coming mainly from a drop in the electron concentration, is observed as oxygen pressure varies from 0.0004 to 1 mbar. This could permit modulation of IO thin–films’ electrical parameters by more than three orders of magnitude suggesting that PLD grown films could be an attractive material for optoelectronic applications.