Role of molybdenum doping in reducing leakage current density of BiFeO3 based thin film devices.

Leakage current properties of pure and Mo-doped BiFeO' (BFO) thin films have been studied in order to identify the cause of high leakage currents. Interestingly, it was observed that the leakage current density reduced by more than two orders of magnitude upon Mo doping at Fe site of BFO. According to J-V characteristics, the leakage current density decreased from 1.101 × 10-6 A/cm2 to 9.4 × 10-8 A/cm2 at an applied bias voltage of 2.75 V with Mo substitution. These findings suggest that oxygen vacancies, rather than Fe2+ ions, are the primary cause of BFO's high conductivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]