Electronic Band Structure of Transparent Conductor: Nb-Doped Anatase TiO₂

Abstract

We have investigated electronic band structure of a transparent conducting oxide, Nb-doped anatase TiO2 (TNO), by means of first-principles band calculations and photoemission measurements. The band calculations revealed that Nb 4d orbitals are strongly hybridized with Ti 3d ones to form a d-nature conduction band, without impurity states in the in-gap region, resulting in high carrier density exceeding 1021 cm-3 and excellent optical transparency in the visible region. Furthermore, we confirmed that the results of valence band and core-level photoemission measurements are consistent with prediction by the present band calculations.