Optoelectronic Properties of Antimony Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films Obtained by Spray Pyrolysis

Antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) thin films are deposited on corning glass substrate using the spray pyrolysis technique. The experimental parameters such as distance between the substrate and source (10-30 cm), substrate temperature (350-450°C) and atmospheres (Nitrogen and Forming gas) are varied to study their effect on the properties of ATO thin films. The ATO thin film annealed at 425°C exhibits the lowest electrical resistivity of 2.23×10-2 Ω-cm. Besides, the film annealed in the nitrogen atmosphere showed a less resistivity value of 9.06×10-3 (Ω-cm) than the forming gas atmosphere. The film doped with 3 at% of Sb revealed the highest figure of merit value of 11.45x10-2 Ω-1. The preferential orientation is observed at the (200) diffraction plane in all the cases from the structural studies. Furthermore, the intensity of the diffraction planes decreases as the temperature increases. The average transmittance of 75% is obtained for ATO thin films.