Metal oxide thin films and production thereof are disclosed. An exemplary method of producing a metal oxide thin film may comprise introducing at least two metallic elements and oxygen into a process chamber to form a metal oxide. The method may also comprise depositing the metal oxide on a substrate in the process chamber. The method may also comprise simultaneously controlling a ratio of the atleast two metallic elements and a stoichiometry of the oxygen during deposition. Exemplary amorphous metal oxide thin films produced according to the methods herein may exhibit highly transparent properties, highly conductive properties, and/or other opto-electronic properties.

Metal oxide thin films and production thereof are disclosed. An exemplary method of producing a metal oxide thin film may comprise introducing at least two metallic elements and oxygen into a process chamber to form a metal oxide. The method may also comprise depositing the metal oxide on a substrate in the process chamber. The method may also comprise simultaneously controlling a ratio of the at least two metallic elements and a stoichiometry of the oxygen during deposition. Exemplary amorphous metal oxide thin films produced according to the methods herein may exhibit highly transparent properties, highly conductive properties, and/or other opto-electronic properties.

Solution Processed Metal Oxide Thin Films for Electronic Applications discusses the fundamentals of solution processing materials chemistry techniques as they are applied to metal oxide materials systems for key device applications. The book introduces basic information (materials properties, materials synthesis, barriers), discusses ink formulation and solution processing methods, including sol-gel processing, surface functionalization aspects, and presents a comprehensive accounting on the electronic applications of solution processed metal oxide films, including thin film transistors, photovoltaic cells and other electronics devices and circuits. This is an important reference for those interested in oxide electronics, printed electronics, flexible electronics and large-area electronics. - Provides in-depth information on solution processing fundamentals, techniques, considerations and barriers combined with key device applications - Reviews important device applications, including transistors, light-emitting diodes, and photovoltaic cells - Includes an overview of metal oxide materials systems (semiconductors, nanomaterials and thin films), addressing materials synthesis, properties, limitations and surface aspects

This is the first text to cover all aspects of solution processed functional oxide thin-films. Chemical Solution Deposition (CSD) comprises all solution based thin- film deposition techniques, which involve chemical reactions of precursors during the formation of the oxide films, i. e. sol-gel type routes, metallo-organic decomposition routes, hybrid routes, etc. While the development of sol-gel type processes for optical coatings on glass by silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide dates from the mid-20th century, the first CSD derived electronic oxide thin films, such as lead zirconate titanate, were prepared in the 1980’s. Since then CSD has emerged as a highly flexible and cost-effective technique for the fabrication of a very wide variety of functional oxide thin films. Application areas include, for example, integrated dielectric capacitors, ferroelectric random access memories, pyroelectric infrared detectors, piezoelectric micro-electromechanical systems, antireflective coatings, optical filters, conducting-, transparent conducting-, and superconducting layers, luminescent coatings, gas sensors, thin film solid-oxide fuel cells, and photoelectrocatalytic solar cells. In the appendix detailed “cooking recipes” for selected material systems are offered.

Oxides form a broad subject area of research and technology development which encompasses different disciplines such as materials science, solid state chemistry, physics etc. The aim of this book is to demonstrate the interplay of these fields and to provide an introduction to the techniques and methodologies involving film growth, characterization and device processing. The literature in this field is thus fairly scattered in different research journals covering one or the other aspect of the specific activity. This situation calls for a book that will consolidate this information and thus enable a beginner as well as an expert to get an overall perspective of the field, its foundations, and its projected progress.

Amorphous oxides which are transparent and conducting find use in display devices and as top electrodes in energy applications, while those which are conducting and magnetic have the potential to be used in spintronics. With the fast approaching limit of Moore’s law, new materials are needed where the spin and polarization of the electrons are coupled. Despite progress in transparent conductors, materials selection is limited by the need to have wide optical bandgap and conduction via s-orbital. In contrast, search for new spintronics materials has picked up only in the last decade. Here we report the synthesis, characterization, and application of a new oxide made from Fe, Tb, and Dy - elements that do not conduct via the s-orbital. Thin films (100 nm) of this oxide were synthesized by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as a function of varying oxygen pressure, and by electron-beam evaporation as a function of the cation composition, and then annealed under different conditions. Films deposited at 5x10-8 Torr exhibited high optical transparency (90%) and conductivity (~104 S/m). Films deposited at O2 pressures below 1x10-5 Torr were conductive (~104 S/m), magnetic (up to 480 emu/cc), and optically transparent, while the ones above 1x10-5 Torr were optically transparent but insulating and non-magnetic. Changes in the cation stoichiometry showed the films’ transition from being metallic to semiconducting with decreasing Fe content relative to the Lanthanides. However, when a very iron-rich film was annealed through several heating and cooling cycles in low vacuum, the film evolved into a semiconductor that was stable in ambient conditions and showed very high conductivity (2.8x105 S/m) and room temperature magnetism (380 emu/cc). The PLD deposited films were utilized as the ferromagnetic layer for magneto-electric coupling with bismuth ferrite as well as a top electrode for bismuth ferrite capacitors. A giant magneto-resistance (GMR) device made from the Fe-Tb-Dy-oxide and bismuth ferrite showed evidence of magneto-electric coupling at room temperature. The discovery of this oxide not only introduces new materials physics that could be explored and exploited to engineer new multifunctional materials, but the oxide itself proves to be very promising for spintronics device applications.

This multi-contributor handbook discusses Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE), an epitaxial deposition technique which involves laying down layers of materials with atomic thicknesses on to substrates. It summarizes MBE research and application in epitaxial growth with close discussion and a 'how to' on processing molecular or atomic beams that occur on a surface of a heated crystalline substrate in a vacuum.MBE has expanded in importance over the past thirty years (in terms of unique authors, papers and conferences) from a pure research domain into commercial applications (prototype device structures and more at the advanced research stage). MBE is important because it enables new device phenomena and facilitates the production of multiple layered structures with extremely fine dimensional and compositional control. The techniques can be deployed wherever precise thin-film devices with enhanced and unique properties for computing, optics or photonics are required. This book covers the advances made by MBE both in research and mass production of electronic and optoelectronic devices. It includes new semiconductor materials, new device structures which are commercially available, and many more which are at the advanced research stage. - Condenses fundamental science of MBE into a modern reference, speeding up literature review - Discusses new materials, novel applications and new device structures, grounding current commercial applications with modern understanding in industry and research - Coverage of MBE as mass production epitaxial technology enhances processing efficiency and throughput for semiconductor industry and nanostructured semiconductor materials research community