Sol-gel synthesis of Al-Tin oxide thin films deposited via dip-coating technique

Abstract

SnO2 thin films have potential applications in the areas of solar cells [1], gas sensor materials [2], catalysis [3], architectural windows [4] and optoelectronic devices (light emitting diodes [5] and transparent field effect transistors [6]. High quality thin films are indispensable for the optoelectronic devices. In this respect, SnO2 is a material of choice owing to its wider optical transparency than many other metal oxide semiconductors with ~ 80% in the visible range [7]. SnO2 exists in the tetragonal rutile crystal (SG: P42/mnm) [8] with a band gap of ~ 3.6 eV. The performance of devices based SnO2 is known to strongly depend on the transportation over the grains and grains boundaries [9]. The present study, deals with the characteristics of the electrical conduction. The effect of Al-doping on both the optical and electrical properties of the films is investigated.