Nonlinear-electronic transport in Fe 2 O 3 thin-films grown from grain-oriented Iron foils

Nonlinear-electronic transport in Fethin-films grown by thermal oxidation from grain-oriented iron foils was studied by current-voltage characteristics at room temperature as a function of the oxidation temperature. Microstructure formation and its changes were investigated by atomic force microscopy and X-ray diffraction studies. X-ray diffraction has demonstrated that average grain size was weakly increased with the growth temperature. The analysis of current-voltage characteristics shows ohmic regime at low voltages and space-charge-limited regime at higher voltages. Space-charge effects resulted from the discontinuous grain growth of the foils. Further, nonlinear-electronic transport of Fethin-films can be useful for the designing of adaptive oxide electronic devices.