Fabrication of p-type SnO2 films via pulsed laser deposition method by using Sb as dopant

Abstract

p-Type transparent conducting antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) thin films were successfully fabricated on quartz glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition using a 20at.% Sb doped SnO2 ceramic target. The growth temperature was varied from 500 to 800°C, after deposition, the thin films were rapidly annealed at 500°C in air for 2h. Several analytical tools such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), Hall measurements, four-point probe, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–Vis–NIR) spectrophotometer were used to explore the causes of the changes in optoelectronic properties and surface micrographs. The Sb-doped SnO2 film prepared at 700°C possessed the lowest resistivity of 0.87Ωcm with a Hall mobility of 0.65cm2v−1s−1 and hole concentration of 1.01×1019cm−3, while the average transmittance is about 85% in the visible light region (400–800nm). Furthermore, SnO2-based p-n homojunction was fabricated by deposition of a Sb-doped p-type SnO2 layer on a Sb-doped n-type SnO2 layer.