Charge Transport in Transition Metal Oxide Thin Films and Electrochromic Devices

Thin film devices for windows, mirrors, space applications and other purposes, have become an essential part of modern technology. A great advantage with a thin film device is the small amount of material used and the compact volume of the device. Dynamic control of thin film device properties is usually obtained by the application of a potential with a resulting charge transport. To understand this charge transport, thus become of great importance to improve, develop, and invent new thin film devices. Charge transport in transition metal oxide thin films and electrochromic devices have been studied in this thesis using dielectric and electrochemical methods. The dielectric methods used are impedance spectroscopy, the isothermal transient ionic current technique and current-voltage measurements. The electrochemical methods include the galvanostatic intermittent titration technique and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Ion intercalation parameters have been obtained for sputtered and ALD ZrO2 and sputtered TiO2, and the ion conduction processes have been analysed. The dielectric permittivity of as-deposited as well as intercalated thin films of ZrO2 and TiO2 have been studied and electron conduction mechanisms in as-deposited films deduced. From the impedance spectroscopy it is found that the dielectric response changes drastically upon ion intercalation. The complex dielectric response suggests different relaxation processes being important at different levels of intercalation and an explanation built on defect induced dipoles is proposed. Moreover, ion transport in electrochromic devices has been studied. The transient ionic current has been analysed to extract transport parameters both in single layers and whole devices and a deeper understanding of the ionic motion has been achieved