P-type conductive amorphous oxides of transition metals from solution processing.

We report a series of solution-processed p-type conductive amorphous Ln-M-O (a-Ln-M-O, where M = Ru, Ir, and Ln is a lanthanide element except Ce) having low resistivities (10-3 to 10-2 Ω cm). These oxides are thermally stable to a high degree, being amorphous up to 800 °C, and processable below 400 °C. Their film surfaces are smooth on the atomic scale, and the process allows patterning simply by direct imprinting without distortion of the pattern after annealing. These properties have high potential for use in printed electronics. The electron configurations of these oxides are apparently different from existing p-type oxides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]