Structural, optical, electrical properties and FTIR studies of fluorine doped SnO₂ films deposited by spray pyrolysis

Thin films of SnO₂:F were prepared by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis method. The effect of fluorine concentration on the structural, optical, and electrical properties of SnO₂:F films was investigated. The X-ray diffraction results showed the preferred growth along (110). FTIR was employed to study the defects in SnO₂ lattice. The evidence of oxygen vacancy and substitution of fluorine for oxygen in FTIR were investigated. It was found that at low doping levels, fluorine ions preferred to replace the oxygen in the lattice. While beyond a certain doping level, fluorine ions started to occupy interstitial site, which had a negative effect on carrier concentration that, in turn, affected the infrared refiectivity of SnO₂:F films. The increased disorder of SnO₂ at high doping levels was also shown by FTIR. The discussion of carrier scattering suggested that ionized impurity and/or neutral impurity scattering were the dominant scattering mechanisms in SnO₂:F films.