Intrinsic limit of electrical properties of transparent conductive oxide films

Contributions of acoustical deformation scattering, ion impurity scattering and grain boundary potential scattering to the conductivity of TCO films have been calculated in order to deduce the intrinsic limit of conductivity of TCO films regardless of precise details of the preparation procedure. The results indicate that the effective mass of charge carriers has a strong dependence on carrier concentration. Based on the effective mass correction, as well as the carrier concentration ionized impurity centre correction, scattering due to ion impurity has been developed to explain the upper limit of mobility or the lower limit of resistivity of TCO films. Two empirical expressions are introduced to depict the dependence of the upper limit of mobility and the lower limit of resistivity of TCO films on carrier concentration. The dependence of transparency on carrier concentration is also discussed.