Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T10:25:28.432Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

High Transmission and Low Resistivity Cadmium Tin Oxide Thin Films Deposited by Sol-Gel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2014

Carolina. J. Diliegros Godines
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Querétaro, A. P. 1-798, Querétaro, Qro. 76001, México.
Rebeca Castanedo Pérez
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Querétaro, A. P. 1-798, Querétaro, Qro. 76001, México.
Gerardo Torres Delgado
Affiliation:
Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Unidad Querétaro, A. P. 1-798, Querétaro, Qro. 76001, México.
Orlando Zelaya Ángel
Affiliation:
Depto. de Física, Centro de Investigación y de Estudios Avanzados del Instituto Politécnico Nacional, A.P. 14-740, México 07360, México D.F., México.
Get access

Abstract

Transparent conducting cadmium tin oxide (CTO) thin films were obtained from a mixture of CdO and SnO2 precursor solutions by the dip-coating sol-gel technique. The thin films studied in this work were made with 7 coats (∼200 nm) on corning glass and quartz substrates. Each coating was deposited at a withdrawal speed of 2 cm/min, dried at 100°C for 1 hour and then sintered at 550°C for 1 hour in air. In order to decrease the resistivity values of the films, these were annealed in a vacuum atmosphere and another set of films were annealed in an Ar/CdS atmosphere. The annealing temperatures (Ta) were 450°C, 500°C and 550°C, as well as 600°C and 650°C, when corning glass and quartz substrates were used, respectively. X-Ray diffraction (XRD) patterns of the films annealed in a vacuum showed that there is only the presence of CTO crystals for 450°C≤ Ta ≤ 600°C and CTO+SnO2 crystals for Ta=650°C. The films annealed in Ar/CdS atmosphere were only constituted of CTO crystals independent of the Ta. The minimum resistivity value obtained was ∼4 x 10-4 Ωcm (Rsheet= 20 Ω/□) for the films deposited on quartz and annealed at Ta=600°C under an Ar/CdS atmosphere. The films deposited on quartz showed the higher optical transmission (∼90%) with respect to the films deposited on corning glass substrates (∼85%) in the Uv-vis region. For their optical and electrical characteristics, these films are good candidates as transparent electrodes in solar cells.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2014 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ferekides, C.S., Mamazza, R., Balasubramanian, U. and Morel, D.L., Thin Solid Films 480481, 224229 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wu, X., Solar Energy 77, 803814 (2004).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, M. A., Castanedo, R., Torres, G. and Zelaya, O., Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 94, 8084 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sirimanne, Prasad Manjusri, Sonoyama, Noriyuki and Sakata, Tadayoshi, J. Solid State Chem. 154, 476482 (2000).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meng, T., McCandless, B. E., Buchanan, W. A., Birkmire, R. W., Hamilton, C. T., Aitken, B. G. and Kosik Williams, C. A., Proc. 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., 001803-001806 (2012).Google Scholar
Mamazza, R. Jr., Morel, D. L. and Ferekides, C. S., Thin Solid Films 484, 2633 (2005).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadj Tahar, Radhouane Bel, Ban, Takayuki, Ohya, Yutaka and Takahashi, Yasutaka, J. Am. Ceram. Soc. 84, 8591 (2001).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kumaravel, R., Krishnakumar, V., Gokulakrishnan, V., Ramamurthi, K. and Jeganathan, K., Thin Solid Films 518, 22712274 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meng, T., McCandless, B., Buchanan, W., Kimberly, E. and Birkmire, R., J. Alloy. Compd. 556, 3944 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores Mendoza, M. A., Castanedo Pérez, R., Torres Delgado, G. and Zelaya Ángel, O., Sol. Energy Mater. Sol. Cells 93, 2832 (2009).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Torres Martínez, D. Y., Castanedo Pérez, R., Torres Delgado, G. and Zelaya Angel, O., J. Mater. Sci: Mater. Electron. 22, 684689 (2011).Google Scholar
Birkholt, M., Thin film analysis by X-Ray scattering, first edition ,WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA,( Weinheim, 2006) pp. 268278.Google Scholar
Zhang, S. B. and Wei, S.-H., Appl. Phys. Lett. 80 13761378 (2002).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lide, D. R., ed., CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 90th ed. (CD-ROM Version ), CRC Press/Taylor and Francis, Boca Raton, FL, 2010.Google Scholar
Meng, T., McCandless, B. E., Buchanan, W.A., Birkmire, R.W., Hamilton, C.T., Aitken, B. G., Williams, C. A. K., Proc. 38th IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf., 2012, pp.001803001806.Google Scholar