Characterisation of Cu2O, Cu4O3, and CuO mixed phase thin films produced by microwave-activated reactive sputtering

Abstract

Copper readily forms three oxides, CuO, Cu4O3 and Cu2O, widely recognised as the most promising p-type oxides because of their desirable optical and electrical properties and potential use in solar cells, transparent electronics as well as other specialised applications such as electrodes for rechargeable lithium batteries, catalysis and memristors. For large-scale implementation of devices, magnetron sputtering is a practical method of producing metal oxides; however, sputtered copper oxides tend to form as a mixture of the oxides, with Cu2O being particularly difficult to produce reliably in pure form. Here, nanostructured thin films of copper oxides were prepared by a variation on reactiv..