The substrate temperature dependent electrical properties of titanium dioxide thin films

Titanium dioxide thin films were obtained by a dc sputtering technique onto heated glass substrates. The relationship between the substrate temperature and the electrical properties of the films was investigated. Electrical resistivity measurements showed that three types of conduction channels contribute to conduction mechanism in the temperature range of 13–320 K. The temperature dependence of electrical resistivity between 150 and 320 K indicated that electrical conduction in the films was controlled by potential barriers caused by depletion of carriers at grain boundaries. The conduction mechanism of the films was shifted from grain boundary scattering dominated band conduction to the nearest neighbor hopping conduction at temperatures between 55 and 150 K. Below 55 K, the temperature dependence of electrical resistivity shows variable range hopping conduction. The correlation between the substrate temperature and resistivity behavior is discussed by analyzing the physical plausibility of the hopping parameters and material properties derived by applying different conduction models. With these analyses, various electrical parameters of the present samples such as barrier height, donor concentration, density of states at the Fermi level, acceptor concentration and compensation ratio were determined. Their values as a function of substrate temperature were compared.