Nitrogen doping for effective enhancement of optoelectronic performance of ASnO3 (A-Ca, Sr, Ba) transparent conducting oxides deposited by doctor blade method

In an effort to obtain efficient transparent conducting oxide (TCO) films using simple chemical methods, in this work, CaSnO3, SrSnO3 and BaSnO3 thin films were deposited on Corning glass substrates through doctor blade technique using hydrothermally treated precursors. Performance of the films annealed in ambient and nitrogen atmospheres were evaluated and compared by means of structural, morphological, optical and electrical characterisations. Transparency (>90%), band gap (3.23–3.43 eV), mobility (80–186 cm2/Vs), carrier concentration (2.7×1018 to 8.12×1019 cm−3) and resistivity (2.37×10−3 to 15.56×10−3 Ω.cm) values confirmed that the thin films can be promising TCOs for several optoelectronic applications. Figure of merit value (0.42×10−3 to 1.18×10−3 Ω−1) suggest that the stannate films deposited in this work are comparable to the widely used In:ZnO and other state of the art TCOs. The TCOs investigated in this research are comprised of non-toxic, earth abundant elements and are deposited by using the Doctor Blade method suitable for scalability.