The optical properties of pulsed laser deposited highly crystalline SrMoO3 thin films were investigated. Due to their low resistivity below 30 μΩ cm, thin films of SrMoO3 are candidates for transparent conductor applications. The transparency of SrMoO3 extends into the ultraviolet range to about 300 nm. In this range, SrMoO3 has a higher transparency at similar sheet resistance as compared to alternative oxide or metallic materials. Density functional theory shows that electron-electron correlation effects are small in SrMoO3 as compared to other low-resistivity transition metal oxides and predicts the optical properties in good agreement with experiment.

Ge‐doped In2O3 thin films prepared by magnetron sputtering are studied using photoelectron spectroscopy and Hall effect measurements. Carrier conductivities of up to 8.35thinmathspace×thinmathspace103cm−1 and carrier mobilities of up to 57thinmathspacecm2thinmathspaceV−1s−1 are observed. The surface Ge concentration is enhanced by a factor of 2–3 compared to the concentration in the interior of the films. The surface Ge concentration increases with more oxidizing deposition conditions, in opposite to what has been reported for Sn‐doped In2O3. Ge‐doped In2O3 films exhibit higher work functions as compared to Sn‐doped films, in particular at oxidizing conditions. This is attributed to the formation of a GeO2 surface phase. While segregation of Sn reduces the carrier mobility due to grain boundary scattering, Ge segregation does not show such an effect. The differences are attributed to the different oxidation states of the segregated dopants, in agreement with the observed dependence of segregation on oxygen activity.

For the application as transparent conductive material, In2O3 is mostly doped with 10 wt. % SnO2. At such high dopant concentrations the Sn‐donors, which are mobile at temperatures of 300°C or higher, can segregate to grain boundaries and to the surfaces of the films. The segregation preferentially occurs under reducing conditions, i.e. for the most conductive samples. As a consequence, carrier mobility is lowered by grain boundary scattering. Whether the segregation to the surface affects the work function could not be identified for ITO. This is different in the case of Ge‐doped In2O3. The Ge‐concentration at the surface attains values of up to 25 cation% (GGI) depending on substrate temperature and atmosphere during film deposition. This corresponds to an increase of up to a factor of 3 compared to the bulk concentration. The increased surface Ge concentration is clearly accompanied by an increase of the ionization potential from 7.4 to 8 eV, as shown in the inset of the figure. As the segregation of Ge preferentially occurs under oxidizing conditions, highly conductive films exhibit higher carrier concentrations when doped with Ge compared to Sn‐doped films. For further details refer to the article by Hoyer et al. (No. http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/pssa.201600486).