Study of fluorine-doped tin oxide thin films deposited by pneumatic spray pyrolysis and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis: a direct comparison

Abstract A comparative analysis was performed of fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) thin films deposited through two different systems: pneumatic spray pyrolysis and ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The films were deposited on glass substrates at 460 °C, with varying weight ratios of fluorine to tin (F/Sn = 0.35, F/Sn = 0.50, and F/Sn = 0.65). The investigation focuses on the evolution of the film’s crystallinity, structural, morphological, transmittance, optical, and electrical properties. Resonant nuclear reaction (RNR) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) techniques were used to confirm the presence of fluorine in the FTO samples. The results show that the sample with F/Sn = 0.50 deposited through pneumatic spray pyrolysis, with a figure of merit of 34.5 × 10 −3 Ω −1 , exhibits the best characteristics for use as electrodes in optoelectronic devices, particularly in the fabrication of solar cells.