Structural, electrical, and optical properties of SnO₂:Sb films prepared on flexible substrate at room temperature

In this study, antimony (6 wt %)-doped tin oxide (ATO) films were prepared on a poly(ether sulphone) (PES) flexible substrate by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering at room temperature, with varying deposition parameters such as RF power and working pressure. The RF power was varied from 50 to 150W in steps of 25W. The working pressure was varied from 0.67 to 1.2 Pa in steps of 0.27 Pa at room temperature. The thickness of the deposited ATO films was about 200 nm. The (110), (101), (200), and (211) diffraction peaks were observed for the ATO films deposited with two different conditions. All the samples were found to be crystalline with a cassiterite tetragonal (rutile type) structure that has a preferred orientation in the (101) direction, which is structurally stable and exists mainly in nature. The ATO film deposited at a RF power of 125W with a working pressure of 0.67 Pa showed the lowest resistivity of 6.9 × 10^-3 ωcm, and the optical transmittance was 80.1% in the visible wavelength range from 400 to 800 nm.