Indium oxide thin films were grown by the pulsed electron beam deposition method on c-cut sapphire substrates at 10−2 mbar oxygen pressure and temperature up to 500 1C. Such conditions lead to the formation of dense, smooth and stoichiometric In2O3 films, with the cubic bixbyite structure. Epitaxial thin films were obtained at substrate temperatures as low as 200 1C. Pole figure measurements indicate the existence of (111) oriented In2O3 crystallites with different in-plane symmetry, i.e. three-fold and six-fold symmetry. The origin of this effect may be related to the specificities of the growth method which can induce a large disorder in the oxygen network of In2O3, leading then to a six-fold symmetry in the (111) plane of the bixbyite structure. This temperature resistivity behaviour shows metallic conductivity at room temperature and a metal– semiconductor transition at low temperature for In2O3 films grown at 200 1C, while the classical semiconductor behaviour was observed for the films grown at 400 and 500 1C. A maximum mobility of 24.7 cm2/V s was measured at 200 1C, and then it falls off with improving the crystalline quality of films. The optical transparency is high (480%) in a spectral range from 500 nm to 900 nm.
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