Physicochemical characterization of point defects in fluorine doped tin oxide films
- Physics Department, Kuwait University, P.O. Box 5969, Safat 13060 (Kuwait)
The physical and chemical properties of spray deposited FTO films are studied using FESEM, x-ray diffraction (XRD), x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), electrical and optical measurements. The results of XRD measurements showed that the films are polycrystalline (grain size 20-50 nm) with Rutile structure and mixed preferred orientation along the (200) and (110) planes. An angular shift of the XRD peaks after F-doping is observed and interpreted as being due to the formation of substitutional fluorine defects (F{sub O}) in presence of high concentration of oxygen vacancies (V{sub O}) that are electrically neutral. The electrical neutrality of oxygen vacancies is supported by the observation that the electron concentration n is two orders of magnitude lower than the V{sub O} concentration calculated from chemical analyses using XPS measurements. It is shown that an agreement between XPS, XRD, and Hall effect results is possible provided that the degree of deviation from stoichiometry is calculated with the assumption that the major part of the bulk carbon content is involved in O-C bonds. High temperature thermal annealing is found to cause an increase in the F{sub O} concentration and a decrease in both n and V{sub O} concentrations with the increase of the annealing temperature. These results could be interpreted in terms of a high temperature chemical exchange reaction between the SnO{sub 2} matrix and a precipitated fluoride phase. In this reaction, fluorine is released to the matrix and Sn is trapped by the fluoride phase, thus creating substitutional fluorine F{sub O} and tin vacancy V{sub Sn} defects. The enthalpy of this reaction is determined to be approximately 2.4 eV while the energy of formation of a V{sub Sn} through the migration of Sn{sub Sn} host atom to the fluoride phase is approximately 0.45 eV.
- OSTI ID:
- 22089339
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 112, Issue 2; Other Information: (c) 2012 American Institute of Physics; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ANNEALING
CHEMICAL BONDS
DOPED MATERIALS
FLUORIDES
FLUORINE ADDITIONS
FORMATION HEAT
GRAIN ORIENTATION
HALL EFFECT
POINT DEFECTS
POLYCRYSTALS
SCANNING ELECTRON MICROSCOPY
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SPRAY COATING
SPRAYED COATINGS
TIN OXIDES
X-RAY DIFFRACTION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY