Concentration influence on structural and optical properties of SnO2 thin films synthesized by the spin coating technique.

Abstract

Tin dioxide is an n-type semiconductor, with wide band gap 3.6 eV and special properties such as high optical transmission in the visible range, the infrared reflection and chemical stability. The objective of our work is to study the effect of solution concentration on the properties of SnO2 thin films, which were deposited on glass substrate by sol-gel spin coating technique and characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV-visible spectroscopy after annealing for one hour at 500°C. X ray diffraction spectra (XRD) showed that the films deposited at different concentrations (0.7 mol/l, 1 mol/l, 1.5 mol/l) are polycrystalline with a rutile type tetragonal. The grains have two preferred orientations along the directions (110) and (101) corresponding to 2θ = 26,744° and 34,113° respectively. We have also noted that the grain size change between 20 and 40 nm. The peak of diffraction becomes less intense when the solution concentration is more than 0.7 mol / l. The opticall transmittance of the films in the visible spectrum was in the range of 59 - 44%.