Synthesis of conductive semi-transparent silver films deposited by a Pneumatically-Assisted Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis Technique

• We deposited metallic silver films without post-deposition annealing.
• The spray pyrolysis technique is of low cost and scalable for industrial applications.
• We obtained deposition rate of 60 nm min−1 at 300 °C.
• The average resistivity was 1E−7 Ω m.
• Semi-transparent silver films were obtained at 350 °C and deposition time of 45 s.

The synthesis and characterization of nanostructured silver films deposited on corning glass by a deposition technique called Pneumatically-Assisted Ultrasonic Spray Pyrolysis are reported. Silver nitrate and triethanolamine were used as silver precursor and reducer agent, respectively. The substrate temperatures during deposition were in the range of 300–450 °C and the deposition times from 30 to 240 s. The deposited films are polycrystalline with cubic face-centered structure, and crystalline grain size less than 30 nm. Deposition rates up to 600 Å min−1 were obtained at substrate temperature as low as 300 °C. The electrical, optical, and morphological properties of these films are also reported. Semi-transparent conductive silver films were obtained at 350 °C with a deposition time of 45 s.