Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

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

  • Article
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

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.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

FIG. 1
FIG. 2
FIG. 3
FIG. 4
FIG. 5
FIG. 6
FIG. 7
FIG. 8
FIG. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Z.M. Jarzebski: Oxide Semiconductors (Science of Solid State Monographs) (Pergamon, New York, 1974).

    Google Scholar 

  2. D. Ginley, H. Hosono, and D.C. Paine eds.: Handbook of Transparent Conductors (Springer, New York, 2011); p. 534.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  3. H. Cachet, J. Bruneaux, G. Folcher, C. Levy-Clement, C. Vard, and M. Neumann-Spallart: n-Si/SnO2 junctions based on macroporous silicon for photoconversion. Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 46, 101 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. G. Haacke: New figure of merit for transparent conductors. J. Appl. Phys. 47, 4086 (1976).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Z. Chen, W. Li, Y. Zhang, G. Xu, and H. Cheng: 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).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. www.sigmaaldrich.com.

  7. A.V. Moholkar, S.M. Pawar, K.Y. Rajpure, and C.H. Bhosale: Effect of solvent ratio on the properties of highly oriented sprayed fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films. Mater. Lett. 61, 3030 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. R.G. Gordon: Criteria for choosing transparent conductors. MRS Bull. 25, 52 (2000).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. N. Noor and I. Parkin: Enhanced transparent-conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide films formed by aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition. J. Mater. Chem. C 1, 984 (2013).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. M.W. Rowell and M.D. McGehee: Transparent electrode requirements for thin film solar cell modules. Energy Environ. Sci. 4, 131 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. A.I. Martínez, L. Huerta, J.M. O-Rueda de León, D. Acosta, O. Malik, and M. Aguilar: Physicochemical characteristics of fluorine doped tin oxide films. J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 39, 5091 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Joint Committee on Power Diffraction Standards (JCPDS), International Centre for Diffraction Data, 1997, Card No. 41-1445.

  13. K.H. Kim and J.S. Chun: X-ray studies of SnO2 prepared by chemical vapour deposition. Thin Solid Films 141, 287 (1986).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. E. Shanthi, A. Banerjee, and K.L. Chopra: Dopant effects in sprayed tin oxide films. Thin Solid Films 88, 93 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. A. Malik, A. Sêco, E. Fortunato, R. Martins, B. Shabashkevich, and S. Piroszenko: A new high ultraviolet sensitivity FTO-GaP Schottky photodiode fabricated by spray pyrolysis. Semicond. Sci. Technol. 13, 102 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was partially supported by CONACyT-Mexico under Grant No. 102397. Authors thank the technical staff at the Microelectronics Laboratory of INAOE.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Electronics Department, Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica (INAOE), Puebla, 72000, Mexico

    Oleksandr Malik & Francisco Javier De la Hidalga-Wade

  2. Mechatronics Department, Universidad Tecnológica de Huejotzingo, Puebla, 74169, Mexico

    Raquel Ramírez Amador

Authors
  1. Oleksandr Malik
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Francisco Javier De la Hidalga-Wade
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raquel Ramírez Amador
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Oleksandr Malik.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Malik, O., De la Hidalga-Wade, F.J. & Amador, R.R. Fluorine-doped tin oxide films with a high figure of merit fabricated by spray pyrolysis. Journal of Materials Research 30, 2040–2045 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.138

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2015.138

Search

Navigation