Comparative study of ITO and FTO thin films grown by spray pyrolysis

Abstract

Tin doped indium oxide (ITO) and fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films have been prepared by one step spray pyrolysis. Both film types grown at 400 °C present a single phase, ITO has cubic structure and preferred orientation (4 0 0) while FTO exhibits a tetragonal structure. Scanning electron micrographs showed homogeneous surfaces with average grain size around 257 and 190 nm for ITO and FTO respectively. The optical properties have been studied in several ITO and FTO samples by transmittance and reflectance measurements. The transmittance in the visible zone is higher in ITO than in FTO layers with a comparable thickness, while the reflectance in the infrared zone is higher in FTO in comparison with ITO. The best electrical resistivity values, deduced from optical measurements, were 8 × 10 −4 and 6 × 10 −4 Ω cm for ITO (6% of Sn) and FTO (2.5% of F) respectively. The figure of merit reached a maximum value of 2.15 × 10 −3 Ω −1 for ITO higher than 0.55 × 10 −3 Ω −1 for FTO.