Optical Property of Sb-Doped SnO<sub>2</sub> Nanoparticle Thin Films by Sparking Process

Abstract

Undoped and Sb doped SnO2 nanoparticle thin films were synthesized by sparking process. The nanoparticles were continuously deposited onto the substrate by varying the number of sparking cycles ranging from 10-30 and the deposited film were subsequently annealed at 500 °C in tube furnace under air atmosphere for 1 h. The effect of Sb doped SnO2 nanoparticles thin film on their structure and optical characteristics were investigated. The optical properties of the nanoparticles thin films have been studied from transmission spectra. An average transmittance of the thin films decrease from 70% to 50% when the doping level increased from 0 to 7 %Sb doped SnO2. Opitical band gap energy of thin films were found to vary in range of 3.85-3.89 eV which the energy band gap decrease with the increasing Sb doping concentration. From the experimental data, the reduction of optical transmittance spectra in the antimony doped SnO2 thin films make it suitable for generation of window layer coating and prevent unwanted absorption in UV range.