Effects of the carrier gas on properties of SnO2 deposited by pyrolysis

Abstract The electrical, optical and structural properties of fluorine doped polycrystalline SnO 2 , deposited by the pyrosol method using different types of carrier gas, have been investigated. Measurements of resistivity, optical transmittance, X-ray diffraction and SEM microscopy have been done on a series of samples deposited at different temperatures and using oxygen or nitrogen alternatively as carrier. We have found that samples deposited using oxygen present lower resitivity, in the complete range of temperatures. The specular optical transmittance does not depend too much on the carrier gas. We have looked for correlations between the electro-optical properties and the structural properties.