Structural, Morphological and Optical Characterization of SnO2:F thin films prepared by Chemical spray Pyrolysis

Fluorine doped tin oxide (FTO) films were successfully prepared on glass and quartz substrate at a substrate temperature equal to for different fluorine doping (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15) by a homemade spray pyrolysis technique. The spray solution prepared from tin tetrachloride pentahydrate dissolved in distilled water at concentration and ammonium fluoride was added into the solution for fluorine doping. X-ray diffraction patterns of the spray-deposited (SnO2: F) films for different fluorine doping show that all the diffractograms contain the characteristic SnO2 orientations. The matching of the observed and standard d-values confirm that the deposited films are of tin oxide with tetragonal structure and the films are polycrystalline with (110) as a preferred growth orientation. The surface morphology of thin film has been examined by atomic force microscopy (AFM). The average transmittance in the visible region (at 550 nm) has been found (40 %, 47 %, 52 %, 59 %, 61 %) for the fluorine doping (0, 0.05, 0.1, 0.15, 0.2) respectively.