Superconductivity in transparent zinc-doped In₂O₃ films having low carrier density

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Condensed Matter Physics
• Superconductivity

Background:

• Indium oxide-based materials are promising for electronic applications.
• Doping with zinc (ZnO) can modify the electrical and superconducting properties of indium oxide (In2O3).

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the superconducting properties of thin polycrystalline zinc-doped indium oxide (In2O3-ZnO) films.
• To determine the effect of ZnO concentration on superconductivity.
• To characterize the temperature and magnetic field dependence of resistivity and Hall coefficient.

Main Methods:

• Post-annealing of amorphous In2O3-ZnO films with varying ZnO concentrations (0-0.06).
• Electrical resistivity and Hall coefficient measurements as a function of temperature (0.5-300 K) and magnetic field (up to 6 T).
• Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) for structural analysis.

Main Results:

• Films with 0-0.03 ZnO concentration showed a superconducting resistive transition below 3.3 K.
• Carrier density was in the range of 10^25-10^26 m^-3.
• Crystallinity was found to depend on annealing time.
• Coherence length (ξ(0)) was determined to be approximately 10 nm for the x=0.01 film.

Conclusions:

• Thin polycrystalline In2O3-ZnO films can exhibit superconductivity.
• The superconducting transition temperature and properties are influenced by ZnO doping and film crystallinity.
• The material shows potential for low-temperature electronic applications.