Structural, electrical and optical propel-ties of sputter-deposited Nb-doped TiO2 (TNO) polycrystalline films

Transparent conductive oxide (TCO) films of polycrystalline Nb-doped TiO2 (TNO) were fabricated by post-annealing reactively sputtered amorphous films under H-2 atmosphere. Carrier transport properties of the H-2-annealed films were found to be strongly dependent on substrate temperature T-s and oxygen content in sputtering atmosphere. A minimum resistivity (rho) of 9.5 x 10(-4) Omega cm and an average visible transmittance of similar to 75% were obtained at T-s = RT and oxygen content of 10%. This rho value is of the same order as those of epitaxial TNO films, indicating that polycrystalline TNO has sufficient potential as a practical TCO suitable for large-area applications. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.