Excellent structural, optical, and electrical properties of Nd-doped BaSnO3 transparent thin films.

We epitaxially grew 7 mol. % Nd-doped BaSnO3 (NBSO) thin films on double-side polished SrTiO3 (001) single-crystal substrates and optimized the oxygen pressure (PO2), substrate temperature (TS), and film thickness (t) to achieve excellent structural, optical, and electrical performance. By keeping TS (=800 °C) constant, NBSO films prepared at PO2 = 10 Pa show the best crystallization, yielding a full-width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the x-ray diffraction rocking curve of 0.079° and exhibiting a room-temperature resistivity (ρ) of ∼1.85 mΩ cm and a volume carrier density (n) of ∼8.5 × 1020/cm3. By keeping PO2 (=10 Pa) constant, the room-temperature ρ of NBSO films could be reduced to as low as 0.5 mΩ cm by increasing TS from 700 to 825°; meanwhile, the volume carrier density and mobility show the maximum of 5.04 × 1020/cm3 and 24.9 cm2/Vs, respectively, for TS = 825 °C. For all as-grown NBSO thin films, the optical transmittance in the visible wavelength region is larger than 80%. The optimized comprehensive properties of the NBSO films with FWHM = 0.11°, ρ = 0.5 mΩ cm, μ = 24.9 cm2/Vs, and T > 80% are superior to those of other rare-earth and 4d- and 5d-transition metal-doped BaSnO3 thin films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]