Effects of sulfur concentration on structural, optical and electrical properties of Tin Oxide thin films deposited by spray pyrolysis technique

Abstract

Thin films of Tin oxide doped with deferent concentration of Sulfur were prepared on glass substrates at 400 °C by spray pyrolysis technique. The thin films were characterized to study their physical properties. Effects of Sulfur concentration on structural, optical and electrical properties of transparent Tin Oxide thin films were investigated in the Sulfur content range (0–10) at%. It was observed from X-ray diffraction patterns (XRD) that the films have a polycrystalline structure and the intensity of the peaks depends on the doping content. No diffraction peak related to dopants in XRD patterns along with a shift in peaks angles to SnO2 proved that S ions were doped into SnO2 thin films and the size of the grains has been changed from 3.7 to 4.1 nm. The optical gap of Sn1−xSxO2 thin films was determined to be about 2.58 to 3.63 eV. From the Hall Effect measurements, the minimum resistivity 6.34×10⁻² (Ω.cm) was obtained from S-doped SnO2 (5 at. %).