Structure and band gap tuning of transparent (Ba1-xSrx)SnO3 thin films epitaxially grown on MgO substrates

(Ba1-xSrx)SnO3 (x = 0-1) (BSSO) films were epitaxially grown on MgO substrates by pulsed laser deposition. X-ray diffraction, atomic force microcopy, and optical transmittance investigations reveal that the lattice and band structure properties of the BSSO films can be modified significantly by changing the Sr content. With increasing Sr content from 0 to 1 in films, the lattice parameters decrease from 4.123 to 4.037 angstrom gradually, while the optical band gaps energy increases from 3.50 to 4.27 eV linearly, which was attributed to the octahedral tilting distortion pushing up the minimum of conduction band. This large structure and band gap tuning of BSSO films are promising for desired applications in the thin-film architecture. Copyright (C) EPLA, 2012