Effect of Mn doping on the structural, optical, and magnetic properties of In2O3 films (original) (raw)

opportunity to explore the possible changes in their physical and chemical properties with size and shape [1-3]. Tin oxide (SnO 2) is one of the n-type wide band-gap semiconductor material (3.6 eV) and has large exciton binding energy (130 meV) [4]. SnO 2 evinces interest because it is a naturally non-stoichiometric prototypical transparent conducting oxide. It has a high band gap of almost 4 eV, plasma frequency in the IR region and, when suitably doped, can be used both as a p-type and n-type semiconductor. It crystallizes in the tetragonal rutile type of structure, D144h (P42/mnm) with two Sn and four oxygens per unit cell. The lattice parameters are a = b = 0.4737 nm, c = 0.3185 nm and c/a = 0.673 [5]. As an n-type semiconductor, SnO 2 shows very high sensitivity towards H 2 , CO, hydrocarbon, and alcohol. It combines the low electrical resistance region. This property makes it a noticeable applicant for optoelectronic applications. The optoelectronic properties such as photoluminescence and optical band gap of SnO 2 can also be improved by impurity doping. It has been used as a solid state sensor mainly due to its sensitivity towards different gaseous species [6, 7], photovoltaic energy conversion [8], to make transparent conductive thin film coatings [9], solar cells [10] etc. SnO 2 nanoparticles drag scrutiny due to its promising applications in gas sensors [11], microelectronics [12], solar cells [13] and photoelectrochemistry [14], lithium cells [15] and photocatalysts [16]. The high chemical stability, low cost, nontoxicity and excellent electro-optical properties make it suitable for numerous technological applications [17]. Another property of transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) such as SnO 2 is that they are transparent in the visible region and are highly reflective in the infrared region [18]. This property is responsible for today's dominant use of SnO 2 as an energy conserving material [18]. SnO 2 coated architectural windows, for instance, allow