Transition in electron scattering mechanism in atomic layer deposited Nb:TiO2 thin films

We characterized transport and optical properties of atomic layer deposited Nb:TiO2 thin films on glass substrates. These promising transparent conducting oxide (TCO) materials show minimum resistivity of 1.0 x 10(-3) Omega cm at 300K and high transmittance in the visible range. Low-temperature (2-300 K) Hall measurements and the Drude fitting of the Vis-NIR optical spectra indicate a transition in the scattering mechanism from grain boundary scattering to intra-grain scattering with increasing Nb content, thus underlining enhancement of the grain size in the low doping regime as the key for further improved TCO properties. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.