Properties of SPEED Grown FTO Thin Films Deposited at Various Solution Concentrations and Ageing time

There have been various reports on the scarcity of indium element which is one of the constituents of indium tin oxide (ITO). Alternative TCO material is therefore necessary before the supply eventually runs out. This research therefore focused on fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films (FTO) as a possible alternative to the ITO. FTO thin films were grown using the Streaming Process for Electrodeless Electrochemical Deposition (SPEED) technique. The structural and optical properties of the films were determined at various fluorine to tin (F: Sn) concentrations and aging time. The results, as revealed by SEM and XRD analysis show that the properties of FTO films improve as the solution concentration and aging time were jointly increased to 0.85 and 12 hours. All FTO thin films except those deposited at solution concentration (F: Sn) of 0.55 and 4 hours aging time show optical transmission above 80 % in the Visible-UV region. This study has shown that the SPEED technique is a promising technique for depositing high-quality FTO thin films for solar photovoltaic applications.
Keywords: Ageing time, FTO, Optical, concentration, SPEED