Transparent conducting properties of SrSnO3 and ZnSnO3

We report optical properties of doped n-type SrSnO3 and ZnSnO3 in relation to potential application as transparent conductors. We find that the orthorhombic distortion of the perovskite structure in SrSnO3 leads to absorption in the visible as the doping level is increased. This arises from interband transitions. We find that strain tuning could modify this absorption, but does not eliminate it. On the other hand, we find that ZnSnO3 although also having a non-cubic structure, can retain excellent transparency when doped, making it a good candidate transparent conductor.