Fine structure of the red seaweed Hypnea musciformis (Wulf.) Lamour.
(Hypneaceae, Rhodophyta)

Abstract :

An inexpensive and simplified fabrication technology using perfume atomizer is employed to deposit transparent conducting thin films of SnO2 : Sb (antimony doped tin oxide) onto glass substrates, by varying the antimony doping concentration. The structural studies reveal that the films are polycrystalline in nature with tetragonal crystal structure. The preferred orientation is along the (110) plane for all the doping levels and the degree of preferred orientation increases with the increase in doping concentration in the starting solution. The fine quality SEM and AFM images of the antimony doped tin oxide (ATO) films obtained in this work show that the films are homogeneous and uniform. The sheet resistance is found to decrease with the increase in antimony doping level, attains a minimum value (6.34 ?/ ) when the doping concentration is 1.5 at. % and then increases for further doping. Good visible transmittance (>80 %), wide optical band gap (3.52 eV) and the desirable figure of merit (4.39 ?-1) observed in this investigation make these films suitable for low-cost solar cell window layers and other opto-electronic applications.