Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7czq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T15:22:41.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Fluorine-doped tin oxide films with a high figure of merit fabricated by spray pyrolysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 May 2015

Oleksandr Malik*
Affiliation:
Electronics Department, Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Puebla 72000, Mexico
Francisco Javier De la Hidalga-Wade
Affiliation:
Electronics Department, Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Puebla 72000, Mexico
Raquel Ramírez Amador
Affiliation:
Mechatronics Department, Universidad Tecnológica de Huejotzingo, Puebla 74169, Mexico
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films were deposited by spray pyrolysis in a pulse mode at 450 °C on glass substrates, using an alcoholic solution of SnCl4·5H2O and NH4F with different F/Sn ratios in the precursor solution. The film structure was nanocrystalline for all molar F/Sn ratios in the solution from 0 to 1.0. Postdeposition annealing treatments were not carried out. The films with a F/Sn = 0.35–1.0 ratio present a high grain orientation in the (200) crystallographic plane. A minimum sheet resistance of 4.5 Ω/sq, a resistivity of 2.2 × 10−4 Ω cm, a maximum electron mobility of 21.6 cm2/V s, and a carrier concentration of 1.7 × 1021 cm−3, corresponding to a strong degeneration of the electron gas in the conduction band, as well as a mean value of the transmittance of 0.84 in the visible spectral range, were obtained for the films fabricated with a F/Sn = 0.5 ratio. A high value of the figure of merit was obtained using two methods (38.8 × 10−3 Ω−1 and 5.75 Ω−1), that is, comparable with the highest values reported to date.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Jarzebski, Z.M.: Oxide Semiconductors (Science of Solid State Monographs) (Pergamon, New York, 1974).Google Scholar
Ginley, D., Hosono, H., and Paine, D.C. eds.: Handbook of Transparent Conductors (Springer, New York, 2011); p. 534.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cachet, H., Bruneaux, J., Folcher, G., Levy-Clement, C., Vard, C., and Neumann-Spallart, M.: n-Si/SnO2 junctions based on macroporous silicon for photoconversion. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 46, 101 (1997).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haacke, G.: New figure of merit for transparent conductors. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 4086 (1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chen, Z., Li, W., Zhang, Y., Xu, G., and Cheng, H.: Fabrication of highly transparent and conductive indium-tin-oxide thin films with a high figure of merit via solution processing. Langmuir 29(45), 13836 (2013).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moholkar, A.V., Pawar, S.M., Rajpure, K.Y., and Bhosale, C.H.: Effect of solvent ratio on the properties of highly oriented sprayed fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films. Mater. Lett. 61, 3030 (2007).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gordon, R.G.: Criteria for choosing transparent conductors. MRS Bull. 25, 52 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Noor, N. and Parkin, I.: Enhanced transparent-conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide films formed by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition. J. Mater. Chem. C 1, 984 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rowell, M.W. and McGehee, M.D.: Transparent electrode requirements for thin film solar cell modules. Energy Environ. Sci. 4, 131 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martínez, A.I., Huerta, L., O-Rueda de León, J.M., Acosta, D., Malik, O., and Aguilar, M.: Physicochemical characteristics of fluorine doped tin oxide films. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 39, 5091 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joint Committee on Power Diffraction Standards (JCPDS), International Centre for Diffraction Data, 1997, Card No. 41-1445.Google Scholar
Kim, K.H. and Chun, J.S.: X-ray studies of SnO2 prepared by chemical vapour deposition. Thin Solid Films 141, 287 (1986).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shanthi, E., Banerjee, A., and Chopra, K.L.: Dopant effects in sprayed tin oxide films. Thin Solid Films 88, 93 (1982).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malik, A., Sêco, A., Fortunato, E., Martins, R., Shabashkevich, B., and Piroszenko, S.: A new high ultraviolet sensitivity FTO-GaP Schottky photodiode fabricated by spray pyrolysis. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 13, 102 (1998).CrossRefGoogle Scholar