Structure and electrical conduction of Sb2O3 thin films

Antimony trioxide (Sb2O3) thin films have been deposited onto glass substrates using thermal evaporation technique at room temperature. The structural feature and surface morphology were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Sandwich-type structures were deposited with films thickness d = 0.55 mu m using evaporated electrodes of silver. Current-voltage (J-U) characteristics have been measured at various fixed temperatures in the range 293-473 K. In all cases, at low electric field (E<10(4) V/cm), ohmic behavior is observed. However, at high electric field (E> 10(4) V/cm), non-ohmic behavior is observed. An analysis of the experimental data indicates that in the range of high-applied electric field, the dominant conduction mechanism is space charge limited currents (SCLC). Using the relevant SCLC theory, the carrier concentration, total trap concentration and the ratio of free charge to trapped charge have been calculated and correlated with changes in the structures of antimony trioxide thin films. (C) 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.