In-Ga-Zn-O is a visibly-transparent semiconductor, playing a critical role in the fabrication of many current and emerging optoelectronic devices. Scientists showed, for the first time, that self-organized nanoclusters were obtained in In-Ga-Zn-O thin films elaborated by sol-gel. Microscopy and grazing incidence small-angle X-ray scattering (GISAXS) reveal the formation of nanometer-sized nanoclusters together with the spontaneous creation of a mesopore pattern.
Our results on self-organized nanoclusters could be excellent models for novel fundamental studies of nanoclusters in mesoporous matrices. This approach could be used, for example, in electronics, magnetism, and thermoelectricity.
The GISAXS experiment was performed on the CRG/D2AM beamline at the ESRF in Grenoble.