Highly transparent and conductive Sn/F and Al co-doped ZnO thin films prepared by sol-gel method

Al doped ZnO, Al-Sn co-doped ZnO and Al-F co-doped ZnO nanocrystals were successfully synthesized onto glass substrates by the sol-gel method. The structure and morphology of the films are characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM). The results indicated that all the films were polycrystalline with a hexagonal wurtzite structure and exhibited a c-axis preferred orientation. The electrical and optical properties were also investigated by 4-point probe device and Uv-vis spectroscopy, room temperature photoluminescence (PL) and Raman spectrum (Raman), respectively. The PL and Raman results suggested that the co-doped films with a very low defect concentration and exhibit a better crystallinity than AZO thin films. The XPS study confirmed the incorporation of Al, Sn and F ions in the ZnO lattice. ? 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.