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Conductivity type inversion and optical properties of aluminium doped SnO2 thin films prepared by sol-gel spin coating technique

  • Original Paper: Sol-gel and hybrid materials for optical, photonic and optoelectronic applications
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Abstract

This paper discuss the structural, optical and electrical properties of aluminium doped tin oxide thin films prepared by sol-gel spin coating technique. The tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2 was confirmed from the XRD measurements and having a preferential orientation along (1 1 0) plane. FESEM analysis reveals that the particles were uniformly distributed in the film and they are in the range of 10.15–39.58 nm. UV-Vis spectroscopy studies shows that the films were highly transparent and the band gap values are ranging from 3.30 to 3.57 eV. FTIR study reveals that the prepared films contain Sn–O–Sn, Sn–O, H–O–H, C–O and Sn–OH vibrations. Hall measurement analysis shows that the conductivity type was reversed from n-type to p-type at higher doping concentration of aluminium. The calculated values of mean free path were ranging from 0.6052 to 5.3732 A0. The Figure Of Merit (FOM) values were calculated and are ranging from 5.58 × 10−7 Ω−1 to 1.74 × 10−5 Ω−1.

The conductivity type was changed from n-type to p-type by doping tin oxide with 15 wt% aluminium.

Highlights

  • XRD confirms the tetragonal rutile structure of SnO2 thin films.

  • FESEM shows the agglomerated network like structures for 10 wt% aluminium doped tin oxide.

  • The charge carrier concentration of the sample first decreases with increase in alumnium doping concentration up to 10 wt% aluminium doping and it decreases for 15 wt% aluminium doped tin oxide thin films.

  • Conductivity type was inverted from n-type to p-type at 15 wt% aluminium doping.

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Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge RUSA for providing spin coating unit and UV-Visible spectrophotometer.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University college, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India

    S. S. Soumya & R. Vinodkumar

  2. School of Pure and Applied Physics, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala, India

    N. V. Unnikrishnan

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Correspondence to R. Vinodkumar.

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Soumya, S.S., Vinodkumar, R. & Unnikrishnan, N.V. Conductivity type inversion and optical properties of aluminium doped SnO2 thin films prepared by sol-gel spin coating technique. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 99, 636–649 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-021-05599-7

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