Photo-engineered optoelectronic properties of indium tin oxide via reactive laser annealing

Hillier, James Arthur; Patsalas, Panos; Karfaridis, Dimitrios; Camelio, Sophie; Cranton, Wayne; Nabok, Alexei V.; Mellor, Christopher J.; Koutsogeorgis, Demosthenes C.; Kalfagiannis, Nikolaos

Abstract

Transparent conductive oxides are appealing materials for optoelectronic and plasmonic applications as, amongst other advantages, their properties can be modulated by engineering their defects. Optimisation of this adjustment is, however, a complex design problem. This work examined the modification of the carrier transport properties of sputtered tin-doped indium oxide (ITO) via laser annealing in reactive environments. We relate the optical modifications to the structural, compositional, and electronic properties to elucidate the precise mechanisms behind the reactive laser annealing (ReLA) process. For sufficiently high laser fluence, we reveal an ambient-dependent and purely compositional modulation of the carrier concentration of ITO thin films. Hereby, we demonstrate that ReLA utilises the precise energy delivery of photonic processing to enhance the carrier mobility and finely tune the carrier concentration without significantly affecting the crystal structure. Exploitation of this phenomena may enable one to selectively engineer the optoelectronic properties of ITO, promising an alternative to the exploration of new materials for optoelectronic and photonic applications.

Citation

Hillier, J. A., Patsalas, P., Karfaridis, D., Camelio, S., Cranton, W., Nabok, A. V., Mellor, C. J., Koutsogeorgis, D. C., & Kalfagiannis, N. (2022). Photo-engineered optoelectronic properties of indium tin oxide via reactive laser annealing. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 14986. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18883-5

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 22, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 2, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 2, 2022
• Deposit Date: Sep 26, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 27, 2022
• Journal: Scientific Reports
• Electronic ISSN: 2045-2322
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 12
• Article Number: 14986
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-18883-5
• Keywords: Multidisciplinary
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/10907087
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-18883-5