Fermi level (carrier generation), (3) work function, and (4) energy level alignment at

hetero-interfaces.
Although we focus on the basis oxides—undoped and degenerately-doped ZnO, In2O3,
and SnO2–our
findings provide a fundamental background for understanding/controlling the behavior of
more complex
TCO solid solutions and compounds.
Figure 1a illustrates the important surface potentials and energy transitions of a generic
n-type TCO.
The fundamental band gap (Eg0) sets the low energy/high wavelength limit of optical
transparency, which
should be ≥3 eV to ensure transparency throughout the visible spectrum. On the other
hand, owing to
high dispersion of the conduction band, degenerate doping can result in ∼5 eV or
greater additional
increase in the effective band gap [19,20], shown as (EF − EVBM) in Figure 1a, where EF is
the Fermi
level and EVBM is the valence band maximum. This phenomenon is the well-known
Burstein-Moss shift
of the Fermi level with doping. The Fermi level (EF−EVBM) therefore tells the amount of
carrier doping
that has been achieved. In general, the higher the Fermi level, the more conductive the
TCO. Of course,
at too high a doping level, free carrier absorption will shift the associated plasma
frequency into the