Transparent conducting F-doped SnO2 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Transparent conducting fluorine-doped tin oxide (SnO2:F) films have been deposited on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The structural, electrical and optical properties of the SnO2:F films have been investigated as a function of F-doping level and substrate deposition temperature. The optimum target composition for high conductivity was found to be 10 wt.% SnF2 + 90 wt.% SnO2. Under optimized deposition conditions (Ts = 300 °C, and 7.33 Pa of O2), electrical resistivity of 5 × 10− 4 Ω-cm, sheet resistance of 12.5 Ω/□, average optical transmittance of 87% in the visible range, and optical band-gap of 4.25 eV were obtained for 400 nm thick SnO2:F films. Atomic force microscopy measurements for these SnO2:F films indicated that their root-mean-square surface roughness (∼ 6 Å) was superior to that of commercially available chemical vapor deposited SnO2:F films (∼ 85 Å).