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Alkaline and rare-earth metals doped transparent conductive tin oxide thin films

  • Original Paper: Functional coatings, thin films and membranes (including deposition techniques)
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Abstract

In this paper, Ba-doped SnO2 (SnO2:Ba), Mg-doped SnO2 (SnO2:Mg) and Ce-doped SnO2 (SnO2:Ce) nanostructured thin films were prepared on the glass substrate via a simple and low-cost nebulizer spray pyrolysis method. The crystal structure and morphology of all the samples were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission-scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), respectively. XRD results suggest that all the samples are polycrystalline with the tetragonal rutile structure. FE-SEM analysis exhibits a uniform surface morphology with homogenous distribution of grains. The transmittance measurement suggests that SnO2:Ba sample exhibits high transparency above 90% in the visible region. We find that doping causes an increase in the band gap, this behavior is explained by the Burstein–Moss effect. Two emission bands in the ultraviolet and visible regions are observed in the photoluminescence spectra. Hall effect measurement reveals that all the samples are degenerate and exhibit n-type semiconducting nature with carrier concentration in the order of 1018 cm−3. Ba doping induces the lowest resistivity of 0.047 Ω·cm associated with an increase in carrier concentration of 8.38 × 1018 cm−3 and mobility of 15.87 cm2 V−1 s−1. In contrast, the incorporation of Mg and Ce in SnO2 reduces the mobility and conductivity, which may be associated with the grain boundary scattering.

Highlights

  • The Ba, Ce and Mg-doped SnO2 thin films were prepared by spray pyrolysis method.

  • Pyramidal-like and spherical-like nano-crystals were investigated.

  • All samples have a polycrystalline tetragonal rutile structure with nanometric dimensions.

  • The Ba-doped SnO2 sample showed excellent optoelectronic properties.

  • Strong near-ultraviolet emission peak at ~386 nm was observed in photoluminescence spectra.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by the University Grants Commission of Bangladesh (No. DRE-6-RUET-258-7). Authors are thankful to Dr. Juan Antonio Zapien, Professor, Department of Materials Science and Engineering, and member of Center of Super-Diamond and Advanced Films (COSDAF), City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, P. R. China for providing samples characterization facilities of scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and spectroscopy ellipsometry.

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  1. Department of Physics, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, 6204, Bangladesh

    Md. Ariful Islam, Md. Faruk Hossain, A. M. M. Tanveer Karim & Md. Sazzad Hossain

  2. Department of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology, Rajshahi, 6204, Bangladesh

    Jannatul Robaiat Mou

  3. Department of Physics, Begum Rokeya University, Rangpur, Rangpur, 5400, Bangladesh

    Md. Kamruzzaman

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  1. Md. Ariful Islam
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Islam, M.A., Mou, J.R., Hossain, M.F. et al. Alkaline and rare-earth metals doped transparent conductive tin oxide thin films. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 96, 304–313 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-020-05362-4

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