Synthesis and Characterization of Nano-Crystalline Fluorine-Doped Tin Oxide Thin Films by Sol-Gel Method

Thin films of fluorine-doped tin-oxide (FTO) were prepared by sol-gel dip-coating technique. Stannous chloride (SnCl₂2H₂O) and hydrogen fluoride (HF) were mixed with isopropyl alcohol to serve as source solution. X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectrum showed all the peaks of the crystalline SnO₂. Analysis of XRD spectrum showed the particle size to be nearly 6 nm, which indicated the nanocrystalline structure of the films. Strain calculation by integral breadth (IB) method from XRD data showed a value of 0.010. UV-Visible spectrophotometric measurement showed high transparency of the films in the visible region and the band gap was calculated to be 3.34 eV. The room temperature resistivity of the films were of the order of 1 cm. Fluorine concentration in the films was determined from energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) study. Current-voltage (I-V) characteristics at high temperatures showed the Poole-Frenkel effect of thermionic emission. SEM study indicated the existence of fine grains in the film. FT-IR spectroscopy showed strong Sn—O and Sn—O—Sn bonding.