Role of intragrain oxygen diffusion in polycrystalline tin oxide conductivity

Resistivity transients of tin oxide films at step isothermal changes in oxygen pressure are investigated. It is expected that, after exposing the samples to oxygen, the resistivity would increase monotonically as barriers become higher to finally reach a plateau at steady state. Here we present expe...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: Aldao, Celso Manuel, Mirabella, D. A., Ponce, Miguel Adolfo, Giberti, A., Malagu, C.
Format: article
Status:Published version
Publication Date:2011
Country:Argentina
Institution:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repository:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/16006
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/16006
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:TIN OXIDE
INTRAGRAIN DIFFUSION
CONDUCTIVITY
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.3
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Description
Summary:Resistivity transients of tin oxide films at step isothermal changes in oxygen pressure are investigated. It is expected that, after exposing the samples to oxygen, the resistivity would increase monotonically as barriers become higher to finally reach a plateau at steady state. Here we present experimental results showing a nonmonotonic resistivity transient response that cannot be explained by only considering changes in the Schottky barrier heights. We provide an explanation based on the effects of intragrain oxygen diffusion that accounts for the observed main features of conduction in this polycrystalline material. Oxygen diffuses into the grains annihilating vacancies; the donor concentration is then reduced affecting the sample conductivity.