Correlated metals as transparent conductors
Source abstract
Abstract
The fundamental challenge for designing transparent conductors used in photovoltaics, displays and solid-state lighting is the ideal combination of high optical transparency and high electrical conductivity. Satisfying these competing demands is commonly achieved by increasing carrier concentration in a wide-bandgap semiconductor with low effective carrier mass through heavy doping, as in the case of tin-doped indium oxide (ITO). Here, an alternative design strategy for identifying high-conductivity, high-transparency metals is proposed, which relies on strong electron-electron interactions resulting in an enhancement in the carrier effective mass. This approach is experimentally verified using the correlated metals SrVO3 and CaVO3, which, despite their high carrier concentration (>2.2 × 10(22) cm(-3)), have low screened plasma energies (<1.33 eV), and demonstrate excellent performance when benchmarked against ITO. A method is outlined to rapidly identify other candidates among correlated metals, and strategies are proposed to further enhance their performance, thereby opening up new avenues to develop transparent conductors.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: ZnO doping and properties · Electronic and Structural Properties of Oxides · Copper-based nanomaterials and applications
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (55)
Show source-provided references
1. Freeman, A. J., Poeppelmeier, K. R., Mason, T. O., Chang, R. P. H. & Marks, T. J. Chemical and thin-film strategies for new transparent conducting oxides. MRS Bull. 25, 45–51 (2000).10.1557/mrs2000.150 ↗
2. Ellmer, K. Past achievements and future challenges in the development of optically transparent electrodes. Nature Photon. 6, 809–817 (2012).10.1038/nphoton.2012.282 ↗
3. Mizoguchi, H., Kamiya, T., Matsuishi, S. & Hosono, H. A germanate transparent conductive oxide. Nature Commun. 2, 470 (2011).10.1038/ncomms1484 ↗
4. Tadatsugu, M. Transparent conducting oxide semiconductors for transparent electrodes. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 20, S35 (2005).10.1088/0268-1242/20/4/004 ↗
5. Ginley, D. S., Hosono, H. & Paine, D. C. (eds) Handbook of Transparent Conductors (Springer, 2011).10.1007/978-1-4419-1638-9 ↗
6. Imada, M., Fujimori, A. & Tokura, Y. Metal–insulator transitions. Rev. Mod. Phys. 70, 1039–1263 (1998).10.1103/RevModPhys.70.1039 ↗
7. Brinkman, W. F. & Rice, T. M. Application of Gutzwiller’s variational method to the metal–insulator transition. Phys. Rev. B 2, 4302–4304 (1970).10.1103/PhysRevB.2.4302 ↗
8. Georges, A., Kotliar, G., Krauth, W. & Rozenberg, M. J. Dynamical mean-field theory of strongly correlated fermion systems and the limit of infinite dimensions. Rev. Mod. Phys. 68, 13–125 (1996).10.1103/RevModPhys.68.13 ↗
9. Locquet, J.-P. et al. Doubling the critical temperature of La1.9Sr0.1CuO4 using epitaxial strain. Nature 394, 453–456 (1998).10.1038/28810 ↗
10. Armitage, N., Fournier, P. & Greene, R. Progress and perspectives on electron-doped cuprates. Rev. Mod. Phys. 82, 2421–2487 (2010).10.1103/RevModPhys.82.2421 ↗
11. Eltsev, Y. et al. Anisotropic resistivity and Hall effect in MgB2 single crystals. Phys. Rev. B 66, 180504 (2002).10.1103/PhysRevB.66.180504 ↗
12. Zhuang, C. et al. Significant improvements of the high-field properties of carbon-doped MgB2 films by hot-filament-assisted hybrid physical–chemical vapor deposition using methane as the doping source. Supercond. Sci. Technol. 21, 082002 (2008).10.1088/0953-2048/21/8/082002 ↗
13. Nakajima, M. et al. Unprecedented anisotropic metallic state in undoped iron arsenide BaFe2As2 revealed by optical spectroscopy. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 108, 12238–12242 (2011).10.1073/pnas.1100102108 ↗
14. Analytis, J. G. et al. Bulk superconductivity and disorder in single crystals of LaFePO. Preprint at http://arXiv.org/abs/0810.5368 (2008).
15. Stemmer, S. Low-dimensional Mott material: Transport in ultrathin epitaxial LaNiO3 films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 062114 (2010).10.1063/1.3309713 ↗
16. Nagai, I. et al. Highest conductivity oxide SrMoO3 grown by a floating-zone method under ultralow oxygen partial pressure. Appl. Phys. Lett. 87, 024105 (2005).10.1063/1.1992671 ↗
17. Radetinac, A., Takahashi, K. S., Alff, L., Kawasaki, M. & Tokura, Y. Single-crystalline CaMoO3 and SrMoO3 films grown by pulsed laser deposition in a reductive atmosphere. Appl. Phys. Exp. 3, 073003 (2010).10.1143/APEX.3.073003 ↗
18. Fujita, K., Mochida, T. & Nakamura, K. High-temperature thermoelectric properties of NaxCoO2−δ single crystals. Japan J. Appl. Phys. 40, 4644–4647 (2001).10.1143/JJAP.40.4644 ↗
19. Hicks, C. W. et al. Quantum oscillations and high carrier mobility in the Delafossite PdCoO2 . Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 116401 (2012).10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.116401 ↗
20. Lightsey, P., Lilienfeld, D. & Holcomb, D. Transport properties of cubic NaxWO3 near the insulator–metal transition. Phys. Rev. B 14, 4730–4732 (1976).10.1103/PhysRevB.14.4730 ↗
21. Tashman, J. et al. Epitaxial growth of VO2 by periodic annealing. Appl. Phys. Lett. 104, 063104 (2014).10.1063/1.4864404 ↗
22. Sipos, B. et al. From Mott state to superconductivity in 1T-TaS2 . Nature Mater. 7, 960–965 (2008).10.1038/nmat2318 ↗
23. Basov, D. N., Averitt, R. D., Van Der Marel, D., Dressel, M. & Haule, K. Electrodynamics of correlated electron materials. Rev. Mod. Phys. 83, 471–541 (2011).10.1103/RevModPhys.83.471 ↗
24. Nishimura, K., Yamada, I., Oka, K., Shimakawa, Y. & Azuma, M. High-pressure synthesis of BaVO3: A new cubic perovskite. J. Phys. Chem. Solids 75, 710–712 (2014).10.1016/j.jpcs.2014.02.001 ↗
25. Wissgott, P., Kuneš, J., Toschi, A. & Held, K. Dipole matrix element approach versus Peierls approximation for optical conductivity. Phys. Rev. B 85, 205133 (2012).10.1103/PhysRevB.85.205133 ↗
26. Fujimori, A. et al. Evolution of the spectral function in Mott–Hubbard systems with d1 configuration. Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 1796–1799 (1992).10.1103/PhysRevLett.69.1796 ↗
27. O’Connor, B., Haughn, C., An, K.-H., Pipe, K. P. & Shtein, M. Transparent and conductive electrodes based on unpatterned, thin metal films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 223304 (2008).10.1063/1.3028046 ↗
28. Fuchs, K. The conductivity of thin metallic films according to the electron theory of metals. Proc. Camb. Phil. Soc. 34, 100–108 (1938).10.1017/S0305004100019952 ↗
29. Qazilbash, M. et al. Electronic correlations in the iron pnictides. Nature Phys. 5, 647–650 (2009).10.1038/nphys1343 ↗
30. Haacke, G. New figure of merit for transparent conductors. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 4086–4089 (1976).10.1063/1.323240 ↗
31. Sondheimer, E. H. The mean free path of electrons in metals. Adv. Phys. 1, 1–42 (1952).10.1080/00018735200101151 ↗
32. Sennett, R. S. & Scott, G. D. The structure of evaporated metal films and their optical properties. J. Opt. Soc. Am. 40, 203–210 (1950).10.1364/JOSA.40.000203 ↗
33. Fukuda, K., Lim, S. H. N. & Anders, A. Coalescence of magnetron-sputtered silver islands affected by transition metal seeding (Ni, Cr, Nb, Zr, Mo, W, Ta) and other parameters. Thin Solid Films 516, 4546–4552 (2008).10.1016/j.tsf.2007.05.080 ↗
34. Formica, N. et al. Ultrastable and atomically smooth ultrathin silver films grown on a copper seed layer. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 5, 3048–3053 (2013).10.1021/am303147w ↗
35. Wu, H. et al. A transparent electrode based on a metal nanotrough network. Nature Nanotech. 8, 421–425 (2013).10.1038/nnano.2013.84 ↗
36. Lichtenberg, F., Catana, A., Mannhart, J. & Schlom, D. Sr2RuO4: a metallic substrate for the epitaxial growth of YBa2Cu3O7−δ . Appl. Phys. Lett. 60, 1138–1140 (1992).10.1063/1.106432 ↗
37. Koster, G. et al. Structure, physical properties, and applications of SrRuO3 thin films. Rev. Mod. Phys. 84, 253–298 (2012).10.1103/RevModPhys.84.253 ↗
38. Zhu, X. et al. Chemical solution deposition of transparent and metallic La0.5Sr0.5TiO3+x/2 films using topotactic reduction. J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 92, 800–804 (2009).10.1111/j.1551-2916.2009.02960.x ↗
39. Stewart, M. et al. Optical study of strained ultrathin films of strongly correlated LaNiO3 . Phys. Rev. B 83, 075125 (2011).10.1103/PhysRevB.83.075125 ↗
40. Serway, R. A. Principles of Physics (Saunders College Pub, 1998).
41. Ehrenreich, H. & Philipp, H. Optical properties of Ag and Cu. Phys. Rev. 128, 1622–1629 (1962).10.1103/PhysRev.128.1622 ↗
42. Johnson, P. B. & Christy, R.-W. Optical constants of the noble metals. Phys. Rev. B 6, 4370–4379 (1972).10.1103/PhysRevB.6.4370 ↗
43. Ordal, M. A., Bell, R. J., Alexander, R. W., Long, L. L. & Querry, M. R. Optical properties of fourteen metals in the infrared and far infrared: Al, Co, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Mo, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Ti, V, and W. Appl. Opt. 24, 4493–4499 (1985).10.1364/AO.24.004493 ↗
44. Ellmer, K. Resistivity of polycrystalline zinc oxide films: current status and physical limit. J. Phys. D 34, 3097–3108 (2001).10.1088/0022-3727/34/21/301 ↗
45. Preissler, N., Bierwagen, O., Ramu, A. T. & Speck, J. S. Electrical transport, electrothermal transport, and effective electron mass in single-crystalline In2O3 films. Phys. Rev. B 88, 085305 (2013).10.1103/PhysRevB.88.085305 ↗
46. Igasaki, Y. & Saito, H. The effects of deposition rate on the structural and electrical properties of ZnO: Al films deposited on (1120) oriented sapphire substrates. J. Appl. Phys. 70, 3613–3619 (1991).10.1063/1.349258 ↗
47. Ohta, H. et al. Highly electrically conductive indium–tin–oxide thin films epitaxially grown on yttria-stabilized zirconia (100) by pulsed-laser deposition. Appl. Phys. Lett. 76, 2740–2742 (2000).10.1063/1.126461 ↗
48. Kim, H. et al. Effect of film thickness on the properties of indium tin oxide thin films. J. Appl. Phys. 88, 6021–6025 (2000).10.1063/1.1318368 ↗
49. Guo, E.-J. et al. Structure and characteristics of ultrathin indium tin oxide films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 011905–011903 (2011).10.1063/1.3536531 ↗
50. Ohta, H., Orita, M., Hirano, M. & Hosono, H. Surface morphology and crystal quality of low resistive indium tin oxide grown on yittria-stabilized zirconia. J. Appl. Phys. 91, 3547–3550 (2002).10.1063/1.1448873 ↗
51. Polyanskiy, M. N. Refractive Index Database (RefractiveIndex.INFO, accessed 29 February 2015); http://refractiveindex.info
52. Refractive Index of ITO, Indium Tin Oxide, InSnO (Filmetrics, accessed 29 April 2015); http://www.filmetrics.com/refractive-index-database/ITO/Indium-Tin-Oxide-InSnO
53. Moyer, J. A., Eaton, C. & Engel-Herbert, R. Highly conductive SrVO3 as a bottom electrode for functional Perovskite oxides. Adv. Mater. 25, 3578–3582 (2013).10.1002/adma.201300900 ↗
54. Brahlek, M., Zhang, L., Eaton, C., Zhang, H.-T. & Engel-Herbert, R. Accessing a growth window for SrVO3 thin films. Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 143108 (2015).10.1063/1.4932198 ↗
55. Kresse, G. & Furthmüller, J. Efficient iterative schemes for ab initio total-energy calculations using a plane-wave basis set. Phys. Rev. B 54, 11169–11186 (1996).10.1103/PhysRevB.54.11169 ↗