Experimental Investigation and DFT Study of Tin-Oxide for Its Application as Light Absorber Layer in Optoelectronic Devices

Experimental investigation of SnO film has been performed to analyse the effect of oxygen ratio variation on its optical and electrical properties. The oxygen composition in SnO film has been varied and correspondingly its extinction coefficient and band gap have been obtained. Also, density functional theory (DFT) study of SnO film has been carried out in order to obtain its optical properties such as extinction coefficient and corresponding bandgap. The experimental and theoretical trends related to its optical properties are in good agreement with each other. The SnO film may be used as a prospective light absorber layer in various opto-electronic sensor devices, solar cell in particular, and its optoelectronic properties can be tuned with change in oxygen mole fraction ratio of SnO films which are detailed out in this paper. Further, some important electrical parameters of such as Hall mobility, carrier concentration and resistivity of SnO films for its different Sn and O ratios have been obtained. The investigation of tunable optical and electrical properties of SnO thin film will pave the way for a wide range of opto-electronic devices.