Electrical investigation of transparent thin films based on TiO2 doped with palladium and vanadium

Relatively new field in optoelectronics named transparent electronics contributed to a development of potential applications based on transparent thin film oxide conductors and semiconductors. Such thin films may be applied in flat panel displays, solar cells and smart coatings for architectural glass. The attractiveness of thin oxide films depends mainly on specific applications, although both low resistivity and low optical absorption are always demanded. Moreover, the need for preparation of semiconducting oxide materials with n-type and p-type of electrical conduction is meaningful for transparent junction realization. In this work the TiO₂ thin films doped with different amount of Pd and V have been investigated. The dopants were incorporated into TiO₂ matrix during magnetron sputtering deposition of the thin films. For characterization of the fabricated thin films the optical and electrical measurements were applied. The optical results show that different amount of dopant have not influenced transparency of prepared TiO₂ thin films in the case of V doping, while the thin films with Pd become opaque with the increase in the Pd amount. Except the high transparency, the doped TiO₂ thin films have semiconducting properties at room temperature and were able to form junctions with silicon substrate. In summary the thin films based on TiO₂ with the best optical and electrical parameters have been selected.