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• Simple structure of cube-textured conductive TiN by direct deposition on metal foil. • Ion pre-treatment enables cube texture of TiN directly on polycrystalline substrate. • Ion Beam Assisted Deposition for TiN films with in-plane texture spread of only 5.6°. Single crystal-like titanium nitride (TiN) by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method is a potential conductive and thermally-stable template for growing highly-oriented REBa 2 Cu 3 O 7−x (RE = rare earth) superconductor tapes as well as optoelectronics on flexible metal substrates. Previously, amorphous seed layers such as Al 2 O 3 and Y 2 O 3 were necessary for the biaxially-textured film growth by IBAD. Such nonconductive seed layers prevent an electrically-conductive path between functional film and bottom metal substrate such as flexible, electro-polished Hastelloy (EPH). An approach of Argon ion (Ar+) pre-treatment of EPH surface, followed by roll-to-roll IBAD process has been developed for a simplified architecture of cube-textured TiN directly on flexible metal substrate. Strong cube-textured TiN films with out-of-plane texture spread of 1.8° and in-plane texture spread of 5.6° were obtained by IBAD technique on flexible Hastelloy substrate without any intervening layers; this provides a conductive template for functional layers. Also, the ion pretreatment step is easily achieved in an IBAD system which simplifies the fabrication process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Niobium-doped indium oxide (InNbO) was prepared by co-sputtering technique. • InNbO is compact and uniform without obvious pores and cracks. • InNbO is cubic bixbyite polycrystalline structure. • The resistivity of InNbO is as low as 8.29 × 10–3 Ω· cm when the Nb content is 1.8 at%. • InNbO exhibits high optical transmittance from visible to near-infrared wavelength regions. Indium oxide (In 2 O 3) based thin films have attracted much attention due to their high transparency and low resistivity. In order to obtain good transmittance and high conductivity, niobium (Nb) element was chosen as dopant in In 2 O 3 in this study. Nb-doped In 2 O 3 thin films (InNbO) were deposited on substrate by co-sputtering technique. The influence of Nb content on the structural, optical and electrical properties of InNbO thin films was systematically investigated. These thin films are compact and uniform without obvious pores and cracks. And InNbO is cubic bixbyite structure similar to In 2 O 3. When Nb content is 1.8 at%, the resistivity of InNbO is as low as 8.29 × 10−3 Ω·cm. The prepared thin films exhibit high optical transmittance from visible to near-infrared wavelength regions. The average transmittance of InNbO thin films can reach 80.74 % in visible light range (380 ∼ 750 nm), and 75.71 % in near-infrared region (750 ∼ 2400 nm). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]