Improving the electrical conductance of chemically deposited zinc oxide thin films by Sn dopant

The Sn-doped ZnO films produced from a zinc complex solution containing tin ions were deposited onto Pyrex glass substrates using a two-stage chemical deposition (TSCD) process. The experimental results show that the deposition rate increases linearly with Sn concentrations (atomic percent, at.%) when lower than 3% of them were used. Only the (0 0 2) X-ray diffraction 2θ peak appears in the range of this study. The incorporation of tin atoms into zinc oxide films is obviously effective, when Sn concentration is above 2.5%. The resistance of undoped ZnO films is high and reduces to a value of 4.2 × 10−2 Ω cm when 2.5% of Sn is incorporated. All of the zinc oxide films have above 80% transmittance in a range of 400–700 nm. The optical energy gap increases with the amount of Sn in the ZnO films.