Effect of Li3+ heavy ion irradiation on the Mo doped In2O3 thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis technique

The high visible–near infrared transparent and high carrier mobility (μ) Mo doped (0.5 at%) indium oxide (IMO) films were deposited by the spray pyrolysis technique. The deposited films were irradiated by 50 MeV Li3+ions with different fluences of 1×1011, 1×1012and 1×1013ions cm−2. X-ray diffraction analysis confirmed the cubic bixbyite structure of indium oxide. A fascinating feature is that the ion irradiation process has introduced a fraction of the molybdenum oxide phase. The μ of as-deposited IMO films is decreased from ~122.4 to 93.3 cm2V−1s−1, following the ion irradiation. The theoretically calculated μ and carrier density values were correlated with those measured experimentally. The transport mechanism has been analysed based on the ionized and neutral impurity scattering centres. The average transmittance (400–2500 nm) of the as-deposited IMO films is decreased from 83% to 60% following irradiation.