Structure, optical and electrical properties of indium tin oxide ultra thin films prepared by jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique

•ITO films were fabricated by jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique.•The physical and chemical properties of ITO thin films were studied.•Surface roughness of the films is decreased.•Optical transmittance and electrical conductivity were increased.

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin films have been prepared by jet nebulizer spray pyrolysis technique for different Sn concentrations on glass substrates. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal that all the films are polycrystalline of cubic structure with preferentially oriented along (222) plane. SEM images show that films exhibit uniform surface morphology with well-defined spherical particles. The EDX spectrum confirms the presence of In, Sn and O elements in prepared films. AFM result indicates that the surface roughness of the films is reduced as Sn doping. The optical transmittance of ITO thin films is improved from 77% to 87% in visible region and optical band gap is increased from 3.59 to 4.07 eV. Photoluminescence spectra show mainly three emissions peaks (UV, blue and green) and a shift observed in UV emission peak. The presence of functional groups and chemical bonding was analyzed by FTIR. Hall effect measurements show prepared films having n-type conductivity with low resistivity (3.9 × 10−4 Ω-cm) and high carrier concentrations (6.1 × 1020 cm−3).