The structural and electrical studies on the Boron-doped SnO2 films deposited by spray pyrolysis

The boron-doped SnO2 (BTO) films were prepared by spray pyrolysis. The XRD results shows the preferred orientation of the BTO films changes from plane (110) to (101) as the increasing of boron concentration in SnO2, which further leads to the variation of grains shape on the surfaces. The FTIR and Hall-Effect results indicate the solution process: the boron ions prefer to occupy the interstitial site in SnO2 lattice, which play the role of donor of free electrons; while beyond a certain boron concentration, boron ions start to replace the tin ions of lattice, which has a negative effect on carrier concentration. The scattering mechanism of BTO is also discussed in the paper based on the grain size and meal free path.

► The role of boron in SnO2 lattice has been obtained by FTIR.
► The vibration features of interstitial boron and substitutional boron in FTIR have been identified.
► The effect of boron concentration on the property of BTO films has been shown.