Effect of Mg dopant on SnO2 thin films grown by spray pyrolysis technique

Abstract

The undoped and magnesium (Mg)-doped Tin (IV) oxide (SnO2) thin films were grown on glass substrate by spray pyrolysis technique. In order to observe the effect on the optical, structural, morphological, and hydrogen (H2) gas answer properties of SnO2 by Mg doping, X-ray diffractometer (XRD), ultraviolet–visible (UV) spectrometer, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and hydrogen (H2) gas, measurements were taken. The absorption measurements of undoped and Mg-doped SnO2 thin films demonstrated that band gaps varied with the changing Mg dopant ratio and this variation may be from Burstein–Moss (BM) effect. XRD measurements showed that the samples were tetragonal structures and have (110), (101), (200), (211), (220), (310) planes. The surface morphology of SnO2 showed that samples was affected considerably by Mg dopant. The H2 gas sensor response improves with the increase of 1%, 2% and 3% Mg doping ratio in SnO2.