Electrical, optical, and structural characterization of p-type N-doped SnO thin films prepared by thermal oxidation of sputtered SnNx thin films

We present a study of electrical and optical properties of nitrogen-doped tin oxide thin films deposited on glass by the DC Magnetron Sputtering method. The deposition conditions to obtain p-type thin films were a relative partial pressure between 7% and 11% (N-2 and/or O-2), a total working pressure of 1.8mTorr and a plasma power of 30W. The deposited thin films were oxidized after annealing at 250 degrees C for 30minutes. X-ray diffraction results showed that the as-deposited thin films exhibit a Sn tetragonal structure, and after annealing, they showed SnO tetragonal structure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results showed the presence of nitrogen in the samples before and after annealing. The measured physical parameters of the thin films were optical band gap between 1.92 and 2.68eV, resistivity between 0.52 and 5.46cm, a concentration of p-type carriers between 10(18) and 10(19)cm(-3), and a Hall mobility between 0.1 and 1.94cm(2)V(-1)s(-1). These thin films were used to fabricate p-type thin film transistors.