Effect of trivalent element doping on structural and optical properties of SnO2 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition technique

Abstract In this study, trivalent element doped SnO 2 thin films were deposited on glass substrate using pulsed laser deposition method. The effect of trivalent elements (Al 2 O 3 , Bi 2 O 3 , Sb 2 O 3 and Y 2 O 3 ) doping on the structural, electrical and optical properties have been studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), photoluminescence and resistivity measurements. XRD results indicated that all films exhibited single phase nature with (101) preferred orientation. Among all the films, the 6 wt% Sb doped film had the lowest value of the resistivity. Photoluminescence study inferred that all the films showed violet–blue emission and the intensity of this emission decrease with the increase in the doping content.