Photoconduction, Trapping, and Chemisorption Effects in Sputtered Niobium Oxide Films

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Abstract
Thermally stimulated conductivity (TSC) measurements on reactively sputtered niobium oxide films on polished silica substrates have revealed a single set of traps with a depth of 0.26±0.05 eV, similar to those found in tantalum oxide in previous work. The resistance of the niobium oxide films decreases by a few orders‐of‐magnitude when the film surface is depleted of oxygen and returns to its original value with oxygen readsorption. The TSC measurements indicate the surface oxygen also serves as a trap with a depth of 1.03±0.09 eV. A model is proposed in which singly occupied oxygen‐vacancy traps in the bulk compete with singly ionized oxygen traps at the surface for conduction electrons. The surface traps also act as hole traps and to provide charge compensation for the positively charged vacancies.

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