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Can fluorine-doped tin Oxide, FTO, be more like indium-doped tin oxide, ITO? Reducing FTO surface roughness by introducing additional SnO2 coating

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2018

David A. Keller ,
Hannah-Noa Barad ,
Eli Rosh-Hodesh ,
Arie Zaban  and
David Cahen
David A. Keller*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel
Hannah-Noa Barad
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel
Eli Rosh-Hodesh
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel
Arie Zaban
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel
David Cahen
Affiliation:
Department of Chemistry, Center for Nanotechnology & Advanced Materials, Bar Ilan University, 5290002 Ramat Gan, Israel
*
Address all correspondence to David A. Keller at [email protected]
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Abstract

Among the commercially common transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) are fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) and indium-doped tin oxide (ITO), neither of which meets all criteria for the optimal TCO. Despite its superior chemical stability and being composed of abundant elements, FTO suffers from high surface roughness compared to ITO. Here, we introduce a path to substantially decrease the surface roughness of FTO, while preserving most of its original advantages, by depositing an SnO2 coating on top of the FTO layer using pulsed laser deposition. Such an enhancement may allow future use of FTO in devices that use now the more expensive, less stable ITO, which contains relatively rare indium.

Type
Research Letters
Information
MRS Communications , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , September 2018 , pp. 1358 - 1362
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Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2018 

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