Investigating the properties of tin-oxide thin film developed by sputtering process for perovskite solar cells

Tin oxide (SnO2) nano-crystalline thin films were deposited on silicon and glass substrates at room temperature by sputtering at a constant power of 30 W and different working pressure of 10, 7, and 5 mTorr. Surface morphology, electrical and optical properties of the films were investigated to optimise the deposition condition of the films as electron transport layer (ETL) for high-power conversion efficiency perovskite solar cells. The films were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV–Vis–NIR Spectrophotometer, and Four-point probe. SnO2 films obtained at working pressure of 10 mTorr exhibited uniform surface morphology with high light transmittance (90%) and conductivity (4 S/m). These sputtered SnO2 films appeared to have shown promising properties as ETL for PSC, and further investigation is justified to establish the optimal fabrication parameters and resulting energy conversion efficiency.