Journal of the American Ceramic Society, Vol.98, No.7, 2099-2103, 2015
Confirmation of the Dominant Defect Mechanism in Amorphous In-Zn-O Through the Application of In Situ Brouwer Analysis
The dominant point defect mechanism of amorphous (a-) indium zinc oxide (IZO) was probed through in situ electrical characterization of sputtered a-IZO thin films in response to changes in oxygen partial pressure (pO2) at 300 degrees C. The results yielded a power law dependence of conductivity (sigma) versus pO2 of approximate to-1/6. This experimental method, known as Brouwer analysis, confirms doubly-charged oxygen vacancies as the dominant defect species in a-IZO. The success of this study suggests that Brouwer analysis is a viable method for studying the defect mechanisms of amorphous oxides.