Abstract
In this work, we report the synthesis and microstructural characterization of Tin oxide thin films doped with fluorine for applications such as transparent conductive oxides. Tin oxide doped with fluorine thin films were deposited by aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition technique onto a borosilicate glass substrate, using a precursor solution of stannic chloride in ethanol and ammonium fluoride as the dopant. Deposition temperature was varied between 623-773 K. Also, other deposition parameters such as concentration of the precursor solution and gas carrier flux were fixed at 0.1 mol∙dm-3 and 5 L min-1 respectively. Results indicate the presence of only the cassiterite phase of Tin oxide in all samples. Thin films obtained were characterized by X-Ray Diffraction. Surface morphology and microstructure were studied by field emission scanning electron microscopy, optical properties of samples were analyzed by total transmittance and reflectance spectra. The resistivity value of the films was measured by the sheet resistance.
Highlights
Thin-film solar cells offer the opportunity to lower the price of solar energy by using small amount of nanomaterials and low-cost manufacturing technologies
A critical part of a thin-film solar cell is the transparent electrode, which is commonly made of transparent conductive oxides (TCO), such as Indium tin oxide (ITO) (SnO2-In), FTO (Fluor tin oxide, SnO2-F) and ATO (SnO2-Sb)[1,2,3]
This paper presents the synthesis by Aerosol-assisted CVD (AACVD) technique and characterization of thin films of pure tin oxide and tin oxide doped with fluorine at 5 at. % concentration in the precursor solution and synthesis temperatures, the influence of fluorine dopant in the structural, optical and electrical properties of the synthesized materials was analyzed
Summary
Thin-film solar cells offer the opportunity to lower the price of solar energy by using small amount of nanomaterials and low-cost manufacturing technologies. A critical part of a thin-film solar cell is the transparent electrode, which is commonly made of transparent conductive oxides (TCO), such as ITO (SnO2-In), FTO (Fluor tin oxide, SnO2-F) and ATO (SnO2-Sb)[1,2,3]. Transparent conductive oxides (TCOs) have become increasingly important in a large variety of applications due to their wide variety of technological applications such as transparent electrodes in photovoltaic cells, gas sensors and many other opto-electronic devices 4. For practical use as transparent electrodes in devices such as solar cells, flat panel displays, and light emitting diodes, a TCO must have a resistivity of less than 10-3 Ω cm and over 80% transmittance in the visible range[5,6,7]. Indium tin oxide (ITO) is the current industrial standard material for transparent electrodes as thin films can be produced with resistivity in of the order of 10-5 Ω cm. Tin oxide (SnO2) is a good candidate and a promising material
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