Neutron diffraction study on the defect structure of indium–tin–oxide

Abstract

The defect structure of undoped and Sn-doped In2O3 (ITO) materials was studied by preparing powders under different processing environments and performing neutron powder diffraction. The effect of tin doping and oxygen partial pressure was determined. Structural information was obtained by analyzing neutron powder diffraction data using the Rietveld method. The results include positions of the atoms, their thermal displacements, the fractional occupancy of the interstitial oxygen site, and the fractional occupancies of Sn on each of the two nonequivalent cation sites. The tin cations show a strong preference for the b site versus the d site. The measured electrical properties are correlated with the interstitial oxygen populations, which agree with the proposed models for reducible (2SnIn•Oi″)x and nonreducible (2SnIn•3OOOi″)x defect clusters.