Growth and properties of fluorine-doped tin oxide films deposited by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

We used low-cost ultrasonic spray pyrolysis to prepare fluorine-doped tin oxide film from 470 to 590°C in 30°C increments with air and nitrogen as carrier gas. The film had 86.4% optical transparency and 16.8 Ω/□ electrical resistivity. The quality factor was defined as average optical transmittance to the 10th power divided by square resistance. The quality factor for one film fabricated at 590°C was 139 × 10−4/Ω, which is acceptable for many commercial applications. Detailed analysis indicates that the optical and electrical properties are greatly influenced by the film microstructure which is a function of temperature.

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The effect of Zn concentration on some physical properties of tin oxide films obtained by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis

Materials Letters ◽

10.1016/j.matlet.2004.07.023 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 58 (29) ◽

pp. 3686-3693 ◽

Cited By ~ 40

Author(s):

V. Bilgin ◽

S. Kose ◽

F. Atay ◽

I. Akyuz

Keyword(s):

Physical Properties ◽

Spray Pyrolysis ◽

Tin Oxide ◽

Oxide Films ◽

Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis ◽

Ultrasonic Spray ◽

Zn Concentration ◽

Tin Oxide Films

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Nanomechanical and Material Properties of Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films Prepared by Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis: Effects of F-Doping

Materials ◽

10.3390/ma12101665 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (10) ◽

pp. 1665 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

Le Thi Cam Tuyen ◽

Sheng-Rui Jian ◽

Nguyen Thanh Tien ◽

Phuoc Huu Le

Keyword(s):

Thin Films ◽

Spray Pyrolysis ◽

Tin Oxide ◽

Boundary Effect ◽

Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis ◽

Optical Transmittance ◽

Primary Role ◽

Nanomechanical Properties ◽

Glass Substrates ◽

Ultrasonic Spray

Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films were deposited on glass substrates using ultrasonic spray pyrolysis (USP) at a fixed substrate temperature of 400 °C and various Fluorine/Tin (F/Sn) atomic ratios of 0, 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0. Effects of F/Sn atomic ratios on structural-morphological, compositional, electrical, optical, and nanomechanical properties of the FTO thin films were systematically studied. The FTO films exhibited a tetragonal structure with preferred orientations of (110), (200), and (211), and polycrystalline morphology with spear-like or coconut shell-like particles on the surfaces. The presence of F-doping was confirmed by XPS results with clear F1s peaks, and F-concentration was determined to be 0.7% for F/Sn = 0.1 and 5.1% for F/Sn = 0.5. Moreover, the resistivity of FTO films reduced remarkably from 4.1 mΩcm at F/Sn = 0 to 0.7 mΩcm at F/Sn = 1, primarily due to the corresponding increase of carrier concentration from 2 × 1020 cm−3 to 1.2 × 1021 cm−3. The average optical transmittance of the films prepared at F/Sn of 0–0.5 was over 90%, and it decreased to 84.4% for the film prepared at F/Sn = 1. The hardness (H) and Young’s modulus (E) of the FTO films increased when the F/Sn ratios increased from 0 to 0.5, reaching maximum values of H = 12.3 ± 0.4 GPa, E = 131.7 ± 8.0 GPa at F/Sn = 0.5. Meanwhile, the H and E reduced considerably when the F/Sn ratio further increased to 1.0, following the inverse Hall-Petch effect approximately, suggesting that the grain boundary effect played a primary role in manipulating the nanomechanical properties of the FTO films. Furthermore, favorable mechanical properties with large H/Ef and H 3 / E f 2 ratios were found for the FTO film prepared at F/Sn = 0.5, which possessed high crystallinity, large grain size, and compact morphology.

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