The innovation engine for new materials

Mauricio Lastres

Mauricio Lastres

Major: 

Mechanical Engineering

University: 

Florida International University

Mentor(s): 

Eric Rind

Faculty Sponsor(s): 

Professor James Speck

Faculty Sponsor's Department(s): 

Materials

Project Title: 

PLASMA-ASSISTED MOLECULAR BEAM EPITAXY OF HIGH QUALITY In2O3 (111) THIN FILMS ON Y-STABILIZED ZrO2 (111)

Project Description: 

When indium oxide is doped with tin it forms what is commonly referred to as ITO glass. ITO is a transparent conductor that is already found in many modern devices such as LCD displays. Similarly indium oxide (In2O3) is a transparent metal oxide, but it is a semi-conductor. Therefore In2O3 has potential applications in transparent electronic devices as a semi-conductor. One method of growing In2O3 is by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy. The films have been grown on (001) oriented Yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) in previous works. However a thorough growth study of In2O3 on YSZ (111) has not been performed. This article reports a systematic study of growth of In2O3 on (111) oriented YSZ. Variations in the growth parameters include indium- to-oxygen beam flux ratio with a constant substrate temperature. Comprehensive results show the very important surface morphology for each sample. Room temperature Hall effect measurements were conducted to test the In2O3 film’s mobility, carrier concentration, and resistance. Scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy showed that faceting occurs for In-rich growth conditions while smooth films can be achieved under an O-rich regime. The resulting growth study is analogous to growth on YSZ (001), except the type of faceting observed is different, as is the geometry of the facets.