Spray Pyrolysis Deposition of Nanostructured Tin Oxide Thin Films

Abstract

Nanostructured SnO 2 thin films were grown by the chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method. Homemade spray pyrolysis technique is employed to prepare thin films. SnO 2 is wide bandgap semiconductor material whose film is deposited on glass substrate using aqueous solution of SnCl 4 · 5 H 2 O as a precursor. XRD (X-ray diffraction), UV (ultraviolet visible spectroscopy), FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy), and EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) analysis are done for structural, optical, surface morphological, and compositional analysis. XRD analysis shows polycrystalline nature of samples with pure phase formation. Crystallite size calculated from diffraction peaks is 29.92 nm showing nanostructured thin films. FESEM analysis shows that SnO 2 thin film contains voids with nanoparticles. EDS analysis confirms the composition of deposited thin film on glass substrate. UV-visible absorption spectra show that the bandgap of SnO 2 thin film is 3.54 eV. Bandgap of SnO 2 thin film can be tuned that it can be used in optical devices.