Optoelectronics and formaldehyde sensing properties of tin-doped ZnO thin films

Sn-doped ZnO thin films were deposited on clean glass substrates using the chemical spray pyrolysis technique. XRD analyses confirm stable ZnO hexagonal wurtzite structure of the films with crystallite size in the range of 20-28 nm. The surface roughness of the films increases on Sn doping, which favors to higher adsorption of oxygen species on the film surface, resulting in higher gas response. Optical studies reveal that the band gap decreases on Sn doping. All the films show near band edge emission, and on Sn doping the luminescence peak intensity has been found to increase. Photocurrent in the 1.5 at.% doped film enhances about three times to that observed in the undoped ZnO film. Among all the films examined, the 1.5 at.% Sn-doped film exhibits the maximum response (similar to 94.5 %) at the operating temperature of 275 A degrees C for 100 ppm concentration of formaldehyde, which is much higher than the response (similar to 35 %) in the undoped film. The gas response of the film is attributed to the chemisorption of oxygen on the film surface and the subsequent reaction between the adsorbed oxygen species and the formaldehyde molecules.