Effects of gas flow rate on the structure and elemental composition of tin oxide thin films deposited by RF sputtering

Photovoltaic technology is one of the key answers for a better sustainable future. An important layer in the structure of common photovoltaic cells is the transparent conductive oxide. A widely applied transparent conductive oxide is tin oxide (SnO2). The advantage of using tin oxide comes from its...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:AIP advances 2017-12, Vol.7 (12), p.125105-125105-7
Main Authors: Al-Mansoori, Muntaser, Al-Shaibani, Sahar, Al-Jaeedi, Ahlam, Lee, Jisung, Choi, Daniel, Hasoon, Falah S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Crystal defects
Flow velocity
Gas flow
Interstitials
Oxygen content
Photovoltaic cells
Point defects
Radio frequency
Sputtering
Surface roughness
Thin films
Tin dioxide
Tin oxides
X-ray diffraction
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Summary:Photovoltaic technology is one of the key answers for a better sustainable future. An important layer in the structure of common photovoltaic cells is the transparent conductive oxide. A widely applied transparent conductive oxide is tin oxide (SnO2). The advantage of using tin oxide comes from its high stability and low cost in processing. In our study, we investigate effects of working gas flow rate and oxygen content in radio frequency (RF)-sputtering system on the growth of intrinsic SnO2 (i-SnO2) layers. X-ray diffraction results showed that amorphous-like with nano-crystallite structure, and the surface roughness varied from 1.715 to 3.936 nm. X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed different types of point defects, such as tin interstitials and oxygen vacancies, in deposited i-SnO2 films.
ISSN:2158-3226
2158-3226
DOI:10.1063/1.5001883