Effects of deposition parameters on optical and electrical properties of Colloidal SnO2 film

Effects of deposition parameters on optical and electrical properties of Colloidal SnO2 film | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Effects of deposition parameters on optical and electrical properties of Colloidal SnO 2 film Abubakar Sadiq Yusuf, Sharifat Olalonpe Ibrahim, Isah Kimpa Mohammed, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-8270456/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 12 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study investigates the influence of deposition parameters specifically precursor concentration and annealing temperature on the optical and electrical properties of sol–gel spin-coated SnO 2 thin films. Films were fabricated from 5, 10, and 15 wt.% SnO 2 aqueous colloidal dispersions deposited on Si(001) and glass substrates and annealed between room temperature and 150°C. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) confirmed stoichiometric SnO 2 composition with film thicknesses ranging from 49 nm to 90 nm. Electrical characterization using the van der Pauw and Hall effect methods revealed that resistivity decreased from 203.6 µΩ cm to 179.8 µΩ cm as both precursor concentration and annealing temperature increased, primarily due to enhanced carrier concentration and reduced grain boundary scattering. Carrier concentration increased from (7.0 ± 0.4) × 10²⁰ cm⁻³ to (8.2 ± 0.3) × 10²⁰ cm⁻³, while mobility remained stable around 40–44 cm² V⁻¹ s⁻¹. Optical transmittance exceeded 80% across the visible spectrum, and the optical bandgap decreased slightly from 3.78 eV to 3.69 eV with increasing precursor concentration. The findings demonstrate that controlled tuning of precursor concentration and annealing temperature can enhance the conductivity and optical transparency of SnO 2 films, making them promising electron transport layers for optoelectronic applications such as perovskite solar cells. Colloidal Tin Oxide Spin coating Annealing Temperature Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Revision requested 09 Jan, 2026 Reviews received at journal 19 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 15 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 11 Dec, 2025 Reviews received at journal 10 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 10 Dec, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 08 Dec, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 08 Dec, 2025 Editor invited by journal 08 Dec, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 08 Dec, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 08 Dec, 2025 First submitted to journal 03 Dec, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-8270456","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":554687647,"identity":"6667fd21-ad0b-4ea0-9b8d-cf1d944a59b5","order_by":0,"name":"Abubakar Sadiq 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film\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-electronics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Electronics](https://www.springer.com/journal/44291)","snPcode":"44291","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/44291","title":"Discover Electronics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover 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Films were fabricated from 5, 10, and 15 wt.% SnO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e aqueous colloidal dispersions deposited on Si(001) and glass substrates and annealed between room temperature and 150\u0026deg;C. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) confirmed stoichiometric SnO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e composition with film thicknesses ranging from 49 nm to 90 nm. Electrical characterization using the van der Pauw and Hall effect methods revealed that resistivity decreased from 203.6 \u0026micro;Ω cm to 179.8 \u0026micro;Ω cm as both precursor concentration and annealing temperature increased, primarily due to enhanced carrier concentration and reduced grain boundary scattering. Carrier concentration increased from (7.0\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.4) \u0026times; 10\u0026sup2;⁰ cm⁻\u0026sup3; to (8.2\u0026thinsp;\u0026plusmn;\u0026thinsp;0.3) \u0026times; 10\u0026sup2;⁰ cm⁻\u0026sup3;, while mobility remained stable around 40\u0026ndash;44 cm\u0026sup2; V⁻\u0026sup1; s⁻\u0026sup1;. Optical transmittance exceeded 80% across the visible spectrum, and the optical bandgap decreased slightly from 3.78 eV to 3.69 eV with increasing precursor concentration. The findings demonstrate that controlled tuning of precursor concentration and annealing temperature can enhance the conductivity and optical transparency of SnO\u003csub\u003e2\u003c/sub\u003e films, making them promising electron transport layers for optoelectronic applications such as perovskite solar cells.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Effects of deposition parameters on optical and electrical properties of Colloidal SnO2 film","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-12-04 07:35:30","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-8270456/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"decision","content":"Revision requested","date":"2026-01-09T07:05:35+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-12-19T14:09:16+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-12-15T05:00:44+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"212598459819615676241389826052703203551","date":"2025-12-11T06:52:05+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2025-12-10T07:59:17+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"130883247473023931161298144214020165289","date":"2025-12-10T07:38:07+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"201096623669263762654390030480036865802","date":"2025-12-09T04:57:25+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-09T04:52:41+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2025-12-09T04:15:12+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2025-12-09T01:29:49+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2025-12-09T01:29:13+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Discover Electronics","date":"2025-12-03T12:38:15+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"discover-electronics","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"Learn more about [Discover Electronics](https://www.springer.com/journal/44291)","snPcode":"44291","submissionUrl":"https://submission.nature.com/new-submission/44291","title":"Discover Electronics","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Discover Series","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"e786a940-7eed-467e-8254-2518f88e33d1","owner":[],"postedDate":"December 4th, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-02T07:26:59+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-12-04 07:35:30","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-8270456","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-8270456","identity":"rs-8270456","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}