Structural phase transitions of indium/indium oxide thin-film composites

Abstract

Correlation of resisitivity measurements with transmission electron microscopy analysis reveals that indium/indium oxide thin films, prepared by reactive ion-beam sputter deposition, undergo pronounced and heretofore unrecognized structural phase transitions as a function of increasing oxide content. We have found that these films can be fabricated in a reproducible manner with microstructure characterized as either granular, with crystalline grains embedded in crystalline oxide, amorphous, or mixed amorphous and crystalline.