Transparent conducting Sb-doped SnO2 thin films grown by pulsed laser deposition

Transparent conducting antimony-doped tin oxide (ATO) films have been deposited on quartz glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition. Various process parameters including oxygen partial pressure, substrate temperature, film thickness and Sb-doping level are analyzed for their effects on the structure and optoelectronic characteristics of ATO thin films. Under optimized deposition conditions, electrical resistivity of 1.0 × 10− 3 Ω·cm, average optical transmittance of 84% in the visible region, and optical band-gap of 4.07 eV are obtained for ATO thin films.