Electrical and optical properties of highly conducting CdO:F thin film deposited by sol–gel dip coating technique

Highly conducting fluorine-doped cadmium oxide (CdO:F) thin films were deposited by sol–gel dip coating technique on glass and Si substrates. F concentration in the films was varied from 2.0% to 13.8% as determined from energy dispersive X-ray analysis. X-ray diffraction pattern showed that the films were polycrystalline in nature. The optimum F concentration for obtaining maximum conductivity was found to be ∼9.7%. The corresponding electrical conductivity was found to be ∼1.088×104 S/cm and mobility ∼60.41 V/cm2. Analysis of UV-VIS-NIR spectrum of the film with F concentration ∼9.7% showed a direct band gap energy of 2.3 eV.