Electronic structure and electrical transport in ternary Al-Mg-B films prepared by magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Nanostructured ternary Al-Mg-B films possess high hardness and corrosion resistance. In the present work, we study their electronic structure and electrical transport. The films exhibit semiconducting characteristics with an indirect optical-bandgap of 0.50 eV, as deduced from the Tauc plots, and a semiconductor behavior with a Fermi level of ∼0.24 eV below the conduction band. Four-probe and Hall measurements indicated a high electrical conductivity and p-type carrier mobility, suggesting that the electrical transport is mainly due to hole conduction. Their electrical properties are explained in terms of the film nanocomposite microstructure consisting of an amorphous B-rich matrix containing AlMgB14 nanoparticles.