Characteristics of undoped and tin-doped zinc oxide films prepared by dip-costing deposition

[[abstract]]Transparent conducting thin films of undoped and tin-doped zinc oxide films were prepared on glass substrates by a dip-coating method using an acidic sol. The effect of metal source (i.e. zinc chloride (ZnClB2B) and zinc acetate dihydrate (Zn(OAc)B2B․2HB2BO)) on the crystalline structure and properties of the films was investigated in detail. X-ray diffraction analysis depicts that the dip-coating method led to ZnO crystals with hexagonal wurtzite structure for undoped ZnO thin films after annealing treatment, and the tin-doped ZnO (TZO) film prepared from Zn(OAc)B2B․2HB2BO) is a mixture of wurzite ZnO and tetragonal SnOB2B nanocrystals. Field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) images show the morphology of these films is largely affected by the kind of zinc metal sources, and optical and electrical properties of these films are significantly influenced by their microstructure. The unpoded films prepared from zinc acetate dihydrate exhibit a transmittance about 70% in the visible wavelength range with a sheet resistance (Rs) ＞2×10P 4 P kΩ/□. And their tin-doped films present a high optical transmittance up to 85% in the visible rang, the sheet resistance (Rs) of the films decreases significantly to about 1.5×10P 2 P kΩ/□