PHOTOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ANTIMONY-DOPED TIN OXIDE NANOCRYSTALS

Abstract

Transparent conducting antimony-doped tin oxide (Sb:SnO2) films have been deposited on glass substrates by spray pyrolysis equipment. The optical and electrical properties of the Sb:SnO2 films have been investigated as a function of Sb-doping level. The optimum target composition for high conductivity and low resistivity was found to be 20 % of Sb in Sb: SnO2. The electrical resistivity and sheet resistance were found to be 6.2×10−4 Ω-cm, and 17.5 Ω/sq, respectively. The average optical transmittance in the visible range and average optical band-gap are of 89 % and 3.96 eV respectively. The films deposited at lower and higher doping concentrations (0% and 30%) show relatively rough, loosely bound and slightly porous surface morphology while the film deposited at moderate doping concentration 20% shows uniformly distributed grains of greater size. The films deposited in this work have good applications in solar cell devices.