Degradation of conductivity of low-dimensional nanostructured semiconductor layers under long-term DC current flow

Background and Objectives: Electrically conductive layers of densely packed semiconductor nanoparticles are a promising material platform for creating, in particular, multisensor chemoresistive systems. A significant disadvantage of multielement chemoresistive sensors of this type is the long-term instability of the parameters of individual elements and large values of response and relaxation times to the initial state. Such a process can be considered as a transition "semiconductor - insulator" in dispersed disordered systems, and the dynamics of the transition can be described in the framework of the percolation theory. The aim of this work was experimental studies and statistical modeling of the effect of degradation of ohmic conductivity of low-dimensional layers of densely packed indium oxide (In$_2$O$_3$) nanoparticles under long-term DC current flow. Dispersed nanostructured layers of indium oxide were chosen as an object of study due to the specific electrophysical properties of this indirect-gap n-type semiconductor. Materials and Methods: Experimental studies of the effect of degradation of ohmic conductivity of dispersed semiconductor structures under long-term exposure to direct current were carried out using specially prepared samples consisting of densely packed indium oxide nanoparticles (In$_2$O$_3$). The effect of structure thickness on the percolation threshold as well as the critical index of the conductivity function was numerically investigated. A cubic resistor network was considered for numerical analysis of the conductivity of a two-phase percolation structure. The network was uniformly and randomly filled with conducting and insulating nodes. Results: One of the main observed features of electron transfer in bridge disordered ensembles of nanoparticles of the studied systems is the achievement of percolation threshold at long-term exposure to direct current and extremely low rate of recovery of deteriorated conductivity after removal of exposure. The established value of the critical conductivity index for the studied structures has an intermediate value between theoretical estimates for three-dimensional and two-dimensional percolation systems, which allows us to consider the studied structures as transitional between two-dimensional and three-dimensional systems. Conclusion: The obtained results can be used as a physical basis for the development of new approaches to the creation of thin structures with limited conductivity.