Surface oxygen vacancy origin of electron accumulation in indium oxide

Aron Walsh

OAI: oai:purehost.bath.ac.uk:openaire_cris_publications/fdbef53d-d4ae-4ce4-acd4-30006f498f0d • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3604811

Metal oxides are typically insulating materials that can be made conductive through aliovalent doping and/or non-stoichiometry. Recent studies have identified conductive states at surfaces and interfaces of pure oxide materials; high electron concentrations are present, resulting in a high-mobility two-dimensional electron gas. We demonstrate for In(2)O(3) that the energy required to form an oxygen vacancy decreases rapidly towards the (111) surface, where the coordination environment is lowered. This is a general feature of metal oxide systems that can result in a metal-insulator transition where donors are produced at chemically reduced extended defects.