Electron Irradiation of Titanium-Doped Chromium Nanostructured Thin Films for Higher Conductive Electrodes

The low-energy electron irradiation improves the electrical properties of the Ti-doped chromium thin films obtained by Laser-assisted Thermionic Vacuum Arc (LTVA). The irradiation doses, between 0.6 C/m
²
and 326.4 C/m
²
, operate as a nanozonal melting effect, decreasing the metallic alloy's roughness, and increasing the electrical conductivity at a depth up to 8 nm. Therefore, the grain sizes of the surface nanostructures are increased after irradiation, but the surface roughness is substantially improved. By tailoring the surface parameters like crystallinity and roughness of the metallic thin films used as electrodes in the OLED technologies, a reduction of the Schottky contacts between the metal and semiconductor contact is expected. This fact minimizes the contact resistance between the metallic and semiconductor thin films and increases the charge injection across the OLED sandwich structures.