Structural, Morphological and Optical Characterization of SnO₂:F Thin Films Prepared by Chemical Spray Pyrolysis

Abstract

Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) films were successfully prepared on glass and quartz substrate at a substrate temperature equal to 450 ℃ for different fluorine doping (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) by a homemade spray pyrolysis technique. The spray solution prepared from tin tetrachloride pentahydrate ( 4 · 5 2 ) dissolved in distilled water at (0.1 ) concentration and ammonium fluoride ( 4 ) was added into the solution for fluorine doping. X-ray diffraction patterns of the spray-deposited (SnO 2 : F) films for different fluorine doping show that all the diffractograms contain the characteristic SnO 2 orientations. The matching of the observed and standard d-values confirm that the deposited films are of tin oxide with tetragonal structure and the films are polycrystalline with (110) as a preferred growth orientation. The surface morphology of 2 : thin film has been examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The average transmittance in the visible region (at 550 nm) has been found (40 %, 47 %, 52 %, 59 %, 61 %) for the fluorine doping (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) respectively.

Al‐, Ga‐, and In‐doped ZnO thin films via aerosol assisted CVD for use as transparent conducting oxides

“…Another commonly used TCO material is fluorine‐doped tin oxide, also known as fluorine tin oxide (FTO). FTO films maintain the rutile structure of bulk tin oxide (SnO 2 ) and, analogous to ITO films, doping with fluorine results in an increase in the lattice parameter . Undoped tin oxide has a bandgap of ∼3.6 eV at room temperature .…”