E.A. Smetanin1, A.Kh. Abduev2, V.V. Belyaev3

1,3 RUDN University named after Patrice Lumumba (Peoples' Friendship University of Russia) (Moscow, Russia)

2,3 State University of Education (Moscow, Russia)

1 tujh98@mail.ru, 2 a_abduev@mail.ru, 3 belyaev-vv@rudn.ru

Self-organization phenomena emerging during low-temperature fabrication of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are discussed. It is argued that the combination of high optical transparency and low resistivity is often achieved not by increasing the average donor concentration, but by spontaneous spatial separation between donor-rich regions and high-mobility regions. The key mechanisms include (I) segregation of dopants and defects to grain boundaries, (II) kinetically controlled redistribution of oxygen vacancies and adsorbed oxygen species, and (III) formation of intermediate conductive phases at oxide/dielectric interfaces in multilayer stacks under a periodically modulated oxygen chemical potential. A phenomenological framework linking oxygen reaction-diffusion kinetics with the evolution of polycrystalline morphology is proposed, and dimensionless criteria are introduced to anticipate the transition from barrier-limited transport to percolative conduction Along a self-organized grain-boundary network. Experimental indicators and technological levers for controlling self-organization (oxygen fraction modulation, ultrathin spacer layers, low-temperature post-treatments) are summarized.

Smetanin E.A., Abduev A.Kh., Belyaev V.V. Self-organization phenomena in the formation of transparent conducting layers // Information-measuring and Control Systems. 2026. V. 24. № 4. P. 57−66. DOI: https://doi.org/10.18127/j20700814-202604-07

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