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Journal of Applied Sciences

Year: 2012 | Volume: 12 | Issue: 16 | Page No.: 1651-1655
DOI: 10.3923/jas.2012.1651.1655
Influence of Solvent Volume on Solar Cell Related Electrical and Optical Properties of Antimony Doped Tin Oxide Films Synthesized using a Low-cost Spray Technique
L. Chinnappa, K. Ravichandran, T. Periathambi, G. Muruganantham, S. Sriram and B. Sakthivel

Abstract: Antimony Doped Tin Oxide (ATO) thin films with high optical transparency and good electrical conductivity are seem to be one of the most appropriate Transparent Conducting Oxide (TCO) layers for use in solar cells which have received significant commercialization. In the present study, ATO films were deposited on glass substrates (Ts = 350±5°C) from the starting solutions prepared by dissolving the same amount of precursor with different volumes of solvent (10, 20, ….., 50 mL) using an inexpensive and simplified spray technique using perfume atomizer. The influence of solvent volume on the electrical, optical and structural properties was studied. A minimum electrical resistivity (ρ) of 4.4x10-4 Ω cm is obtained for the ATO film deposited from the lowest solvent volume (10 mL), whereas the ATO film deposited from highest solvent volume (50 mL) exhibits maximum electrical resistivity of 40.96x10-4 Ω cm. Thus, the ρ value increases by nearly one order when the solvent volume increases from 10-50 mL. The predominant role of the presence of oxygen vacancies may be the reason for the lower electrical resistivity of the former case. The average optical transmittance in the visible region is 80%. The obtained optical band gap (Eg) values are found to be increased (3.66-3.88 eV) with the decrease in the solvent volume. From the XRD patterns it is revealed that, all the films show the preferential orientation along the (110) plane irrespective of the solvent volume.

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How to cite this article
L. Chinnappa, K. Ravichandran, T. Periathambi, G. Muruganantham, S. Sriram and B. Sakthivel, 2012. Influence of Solvent Volume on Solar Cell Related Electrical and Optical Properties of Antimony Doped Tin Oxide Films Synthesized using a Low-cost Spray Technique. Journal of Applied Sciences, 12: 1651-1655.

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