Study of structural, electrical, optical, thermoelectric and photoconductive properties of S and Al co-doped SnO2 semiconductor thin films prepared by spray pyrolysis

In this paper, the effect of S and Al concentrations on the structural, electrical, optical, thermoelectric and photoconductive properties of the films was studied. The [Al]/[Sn] and [S]/[Sn] atomic ratios in the spray solutions were varied from 10 at.% to 40 at.% and 0 to 50 at.%, respectively. X-ray diffraction analysis showed the formation of SnO2 cassiterite phase as a main phase and the numerous sulfur phases including S, SnS, SnS2 and Sn2S3 in SnO2:Al films. Scanning electron microscopy studies showed that in the absence of S, increasing the Al content results in a smaller grain size and with the addition of S, the films appear to contain small cracks and nodules. The minimum resistance of 0.175 (kΩ/□) was obtained for S-doped SnO2:Al (40 at.%) film with 20 at.% S-doping. From the Hall effect measurements, the majority carrier concentration was obtained in order of 1017–1018 cm− 3. The thermoelectric measurements showed that majority carriers change from electrons to holes for S-doping in SnO2:Al (40 at.%) thin films. The maximum Seebeck coefficient of + 774 μV/K (at T = 370 K) was obtained for S-doped SnO2:Al (10 at.%) film with 50 at.% S-doping. The band gap values were obtained in the range of 3.8–4.2 eV. The S-doped SnO2:Al (40 at.%) films have shown considerably photoconductivity more than S-doped SnO2:Al (10 at.%) with increasing S-doping. The best photoconductive property was obtained for co-doped SnO2 thin film with 40 at.% Al and 5 at.% S concentration in solution.

► All of the films showed a SnO2 cassiterite single phase.
► Minimum resistance was obtained for S-doped SnO2:Al (40 at.%) film with 20 at.% S.
► Majority carriers changed from electron to hole for S-doping in SnO2:Al (40 at.%).
► S coefficient of 774 μV/K was obtained for 50 at.% S-doping SnO2:Al (10 at.%).
► Best photoconductivity was obtained for 40 at.% Al doped SnO2 film with 5 at.% S.