Thermopower modulation clarification of the intrinsic effective mass in a transparent oxide semiconductor, BaSnO3

Although there are so many reports on the carrier effective mass (m*) of a transparent oxide semiconductor BaSnO3, it is almost impossible to know the intrinsic m* value because the reported m* values are scattered from 0.06 to 3.7 m0. Here we successfully clarified the intrinsic m* of BaSnO3, m*=0.40 0.01 m0, by the thermopower modulation clarification method. We also found the threshold of degenerate/non-degenerate semiconductor of BaSnO3; At the threshold, the thermopower value of both La-doped BaSnO3 and BaSnO3 TFT structure was 240 microvolt k-1, bulk carrier concentration was 1.4E19 cm-3, and two-dimensional sheet carrier concentration was 1.8E12 cm-2. When the EF locates above the parabolic shaped conduction band bottom, rather high mobility was observed. On the contrary, very low carrier mobility was observed when the EF lays below the threshold, most likely due to that the tail states suppress the carrier mobility. The present results are useful for further development of BaSnO3 based oxide electronics.Comment: 16 pages including 4 figure

Experimental characterization of the electronic structure of anatase TiO2: Thermopower modulation

Thermopower (S) for anatase TiO2 epitaxial films (n3D: 1E17-1E21 /cm3) and the gate voltage (Vg) dependence of S for thin film transistors (TFTs) based on TiO2 films were investigated to clarify the electronic density of states (DOS) around the conduction band bottom. The slope of the |S|-log n3D plots was -20 {\mu}V/K, which is an order magnitude smaller than that of semiconductors (-198 {\mu}V/K), and the |S| values for the TFTs increased with Vg in the low Vg region, suggesting that the extra tail states are hybridized with the original conduction band bottom.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Direct imaging of the disconnection climb mediated point defects absorption by a grain boundary

Grain boundaries (GBs) are considered as the effective sinks for point defects, which improve the radiation resistance of materials. However, the fundamental mechanisms of how the GBs absorb and annihilate point defects under irradiation are still not well understood at atomic scale. With the aid of the atomic resolution scanning transmission electron microscope, we experimentally investigate the atomistic mechanism of point defects absorption by a ∑31 GB in α-Al2O3 under high energy electron beam irradiation. It is shown that a disconnection pair is formed, during which all the Al atomic columns are tracked. We demonstrate that the formation of the disconnection pair is proceeded with disappearing of atomic columns in the GB core, which suggests that the GB absorbs vacancies. Such point defect absorption is attributed to the nucleation and climb motion of disconnections. These experimental results provide an atomistic understanding of how GBs improve the radiation resistance of materials