Synthesis and characterization of metastable phases of SnO and Sn3O4 thin films for solar cells applications

Abstract

Abstract Meta stable phase of SnO as stoichiometric compound is deposited utilizing thermal evaporation technique under high vacuum onto glass and p-type silicon. These films are subjected to thermal treatment under oxygen for different temperatures (150,350 and 550 °C ). The Sn metal transformed to SnO at 350 oC, which was clearly seen via XRD measurements, SnO was transformed to a nonstoichiometric phase at 550 oC. AFM was used to obtain topography of the deposited films. The grains are combined compactly to form ridges and clusters along the surface of the SnO and Sn3O3 films. Films were transparent in the visible area and the values of the optical band gap for (150,350 and 550 °C ) 3.1, 2.7and 2.4 eV respectively. AFM shows that the granular size of all films increases by increasing the oxidation temperature. The PL emission results were matched the results of the optical energy gap. The solar parameters for the three phases are studied to obtain the efficiency, which were found to be 2%, 3.7%,5.1