Analysis of the Effect of Technological Parameters on the Properties of Transparent Conductive Oxides

It is shown that a promising method for obtaining transparent conductive oxides is spray pyrolysis, which allows to obtain films of proper quality without the use of vacuum. For the effective use of the spray pyrolysis method in order to obtain reproducible films with specified properties, it is necessary to take into account a variety of heterogeneous technological parameters that affect the quality of transparent conductive coatings. To this end, the authors have developed a model in the form of an oriented graph that displays the relationship of technological modes and quality parameters of transparent conductive coatings. The model displays parameters in the form of graph vertices, which are divided into technological and parameters characterizing the quality of transparent conductive coatings. The arcs connecting the vertices represent the properties of the coatings, and the arrows of the arcs indicate the direction from the action property to the reaction property. This model made it possible to systematize the influencing factors and offer an analytical description of the influencing parameters, reactions to them and properties of the synthesized coatings in the form of a system of differential equations. Based on the specified mathematical model of the relationship between technological modes and coating properties, a method for selecting optimal technological parameters has been developed in order to obtain transparent conductive coatings with specified properties. The technique has been tested on the example of the synthesis of a transparent conductive film of tin dioxide doped with antimony. Analysis of the factors affecting the surface resistance of coatings showed that the concentration of charge carriers significantly depends on the volume and concentration of impurities. The results of the analysis of experimental studies of the dependences of the concentration of charge carriers on the concentration of the impurity, the volume of the solution, on the thickness, the dependence of the surface resistance of the film on the thickness are presented