Effect of glass tempering on microstructure and functional properties of SnO2:F thin film prepared by atmosphere pressure chemical vapor deposition

•The sandwich structural low-e glass was prepared on an industrial line.•The film showed stable morphology and functional property under low temperature.•The functional property decreased dramatically after long time tempering at 650 °C.

The low-emission glass was prepared via depositing fluorine-doped tin oxide thin film on glass substrate by atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition method. The as-deposited low-emission glass was found to present a SnO2:F/SiCxOy/glass sandwich structure via focused ion beam technique and transmission microscopic measurement. After tempering process at ~ 650 °C with varied periods, the electrical and optical properties of the SnO2:F thin film remained stable for less than 10 min, but decreased dramatically when the tempering period exceeded 10 min, which was mainly due to the oxygen chemisorptions and fluorine ion diffusion. It was observed that the SnO2:F thin films presented uniform polycrystalline nature of cassiterite structure throughout the tempering process. The study has therefore suggested the appropriate tempering conditions for the SnO2:F low-emission glass, and provided a critical guidance for further energy-saving glass applications.