PNNL

Abstract

Semiconductor based thin films have a significant impact on determining the anticipated optoelectronic device constructions and the advancement of cutting-edge applications. Herein, Ag and Sn dual-doped nano-crystalline transparent conducting CdO thin films were prepared on glass substrate using a cost-effective spray coating method, and their structural, morphological, optical and semiconducting behaviors were investigated. The successful incorporation of Ag and Sn resulted in polycrystalline nature of the deposited films without the presence of additional peaks as verified by are verified using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis. XRD report also revealed the enhance crystallinity (65%) at the higher doping level (3 wt.% Ag and Sn doped CdO film). All the deposited CdO films exhibited a homogeneous spherical or round shaped grains with agglomeration revealed from scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. UV-Visible spectroscopy was utilized to investigate the linear and nonlinear optical properties of the deposited CdO thin films and a reduction in band gap 3.90 eV to 3.76 eV was observed. A significant enhancement in the first order and third order nonlinear susceptibility, and nonlinear refractive index of the doped CdO films were also observed with increasing doping concentration. Hall effect measurement in the van der Pauw configuration was collected at room temperature for investigating the electrical properties of all the CdO films. The charge carrier concentration of CdO thin films were increased from 142.08×1018 to 169.10× 1018 cm-3 and highest conductivity was found 19.2×101 s/cm on doping 3 wt.% Ag-Sn. All the CdO thin films exhibited n-type conductivity, while an incredible n-type to p-type charge carrier transition was noticed on the higher doping level (3 wt.% Ag-Sn). The findings of the current work are expected to advance the synthesis of semiconductor thin films through cost-effective spray coating methods for optoelectronic device applications.