Transparent and conductive thin films of cadmium doped tin oxide fabricated by pulsed laser deposition technique

Transparent conducting thin films of cadmium doped tin oxide (CTO) were successfully fabricated on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Several analytical tools were employed to explore the causes of changes in the structural, optical and electrical properties of these films as a function of doping concentration. The 3 wt % Cd doped films showed lowest electrical sheet resistance of 300.9 & omega;/ with electrical resistivity of 2.407 x 10-3 & omega; cm. The CTO films are optically transparent with more than 80% transmission in the visible and near IR region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The optical energy gap of CTO films marginally varied from 3.40 eV to 3.49 eV for different doping amount. The AFM studies showed an increase in the surface smoothness of the film with Cd doping concentration. The X-ray diffraction study revealed the tetragonal structure of the film with lattice parameters a = 4.742 A and c = 3.177 A. The enhanced electrical conductivity and optical transmittance characteristics in these pulsed laser deposited Cd:SnO2 thin films, are suitable, for photo anode/electrode ap-plications in solar cells and display panels.

Automated summary

Transparent conducting thin films of cadmium doped tin oxide (CTO) were successfully fabricated on glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. The electrical resistivity of 3 wt % Cd doped films was 2.407 x 10-3 & omega; cm with an electrical sheet resistance of 300.9 & omega;/. These films exhibited over 80% light transmission and a slightly varying optical energy gap for different doping concentrations. The enhanced electrical conductivity and optical transmittance make them suitable for applications in solar cells and display panels.