rf magnetron sputter deposition of transparent conducting Nb-doped TiO2 films on SrTiO3

rf magnetron sputtering, an established and scalable large area deposition process, is used to deposit Nb:TiO2 and Ta:TiO2 films onto (100) SrTiO3 substrates at temperatures T-S ranging from room temperature to 400 degrees C. Optical, electrical, and structural properties similar to those reported for pulsed laser deposition grown films were obtained. In particular, the most conducting Ti0.85Nb0.15O2 films, grown at T-S approximate to 375 degrees C, are epitaxially oriented anatase films with conductivity of 3000 S cm(-1), carrier concentration of 2.4 x 1021 cm(-3), Hall mobility of 7.6 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), and optical transparency T > 80% from 400 to 900 nm. The conductivity is strongly correlated with the intensity of the anatase (004) x-ray diffraction peak. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics.