Synthesis and characterization of Tin-(0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08) doped Cadmium oxide films grown by unconventional sol – gel screen-printing procedure

Abstract

Tin-(0.00, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.08) doped cadmium oxide films were grown by unconventional sol-gel screen-printing procedure on a glass substrate. Structural, surface morphology, optical and electrical properties of tin-doped cadmium oxide films were analyzed by XRD measurement, SEM, EDX, UV–vis spectra, and two probe methods. X-ray diffraction verifies the cubic structure and polycrystalline nature of films. The average crystallite size of films calculated by Debye-Scherrer’s method was smaller than the size calculated by the Williamson-Hall method. The surface morphology analysis verifies the smoothness of films. The energy dispersive x-ray plot verifies the existence of cadmium, oxygen, and tin elements in films. A Fourier transform infrared spectrum approves the existence of chemical bonding in films. Optical band gap increases from tin-(0.02) doping to tin-(0.06) doped cadmium oxide films and decreases for tin-(0.08) doped cadmium oxide film. It was observed that tin-(0.06) doped cadmium oxide films have high transmittance about 65 % in the visible region with an energy band gap of 2.73 eV. PL spectra show a strong emission peak at 520 nm along with a weak peak at 594 nm. The electrical resistivity reduces to the minimum value of 2.5 × 10−4 Ω-cm and gains maximum carrier concentration of 8.33 × 1020 cm-3 for tin-(0.06) doped cadmium oxide film.