Structure Property Correlations in Doped Zinc Stannate Films for Applications As Transparent Conductor

Abstract

This work presents a detailed view of the sol gel based spin coating of pure and doped newlinenanostructured zinc stannate (ZTO) films. ZTO is an important member of transparent newlineconducting oxide (TCO) family. Transparent conducting oxides comprise an exclusive newlineclass of the materials that are capable of being optically transparent as well as electrically newlineconducting. The two mutually exclusive properties exhibited by the special class of newlinematerials enable their role in a wide range of applications in display devices, solar cells, newlinegas sensors, coatings (protective, decorative, low-emissivity) and light emitting devices. newlineZTO has emerged as an efficient TCO and has been the material of focused research newlineby the various scientists and research groups but optimization of the composition has not newlinebeen paid attention. Therefore, current work lays its focus on the optimization of the Zn newlineand Sn ratio of the zinc stannate (ZTO) thin films, effect of annealing temperature and newlinedoping of ZTO films with different impurities to enhance its optoelectronic properties. As newlineannealing temperature can also affect the properties of the TCO materials, ZTO films newlinewere annealed at different temperatures and their properties were studied as a function of newlineannealing temperature. The doping of ZTO films with impurities like Ca, Mn, Sb, Cd and newlinePb has been investigated. These dopants have not been reported in the literature yet for newlineZTO system and the fact sets the motivation of the current work. newlineAll the synthesized films were characterized with the help of different techniques like newlineX-ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron spectroscopy (SEM), Raman spectroscopy, newlineX-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV-Visible spectroscopy and Hall newlinemeasurement. Of all the undoped and doped ZTO compositions, both Sb and Pb doped newlineZTO films emerge as the competent candidate for ITO with exceptionally good newlineoptoelectronic properties. newline