Evidence for indirect band gap in BaSnO₃ using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

Transparent BaSnO₃ thin films have been proposed as an alternative transparent conducting oxide (TCO). Although bulk synthesis and high-quality fabrication of epitaxial films are well established, there are still unsolved aspects about their electronic structure, such as the direct or indirect nature and the size of the band gap. We investigated the electronic structure of epitaxial BaSnO₃ thin films using in situ angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We directly measured an indirect band gap of 3.7 eV, a value compatible with those of previous reports, but we also identified additional in-gap states at −1.6 eV below the conduction band minimum that we attribute to intrinsic defects, mainly oxygen vacancies.