Structural, Optical and Electrical Properties of Tin Oxide Thin Films for Application as a Wide Band Gap Semiconductor

Tin oxide (SnO) thin films were synthesized using thermal evaporation technique. Ultra pure metallic tin was deposited on glass substrates using thermal evaporator under high vacuum. The thickness of the tin deposited films was kept at 100nm. Subsequently, the as-deposited tin films were annealed under oxygen environment for a period of 3hrs to obtain tin oxide films. To analyse the suitability of the synthesized tin oxide films as a wide band gap semiconductor, various properties were studied. Structural parameters were studied using XRD and SEM-EDX. The optical properties were studied using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry and the electrical parameters were calculated using the Hall-setup. XRD and SEM confirmed the formation of SnO phase. Uniform texture of the film can be seen through the SEM images. Presence of traces of unoxidised Sn has also been confirmed through the XRD spectra. The band gap calculated was around 3.6eV and the optical transparency around 50%. The higher value of band gap and lower value of optical transparency can be attributed to the presence of unoxidised Sn. The values of resistivity and mobility as measured by the Hall setup were 78 Omega cm and 2.92cm(2)/Vs respectively. The reasonable optical and electrical parameters make SnO a suitable candidate for optoelectronic and electronic device applications.