Effect of argon plasma treatment on conductivity of sol-gel fabricated Sb-doped SnO₂ thin films

The sol-gel method is applied to the fabrication of antimony-doped tin dioxide thin films using SnCl₄·4H₂O and SbCl₃ precursors. The effect of argon plasma treatment on the spin on fabricated thin films is studied as a function of the plasma treatment time. Changes in electrical conductivity are measured by a linear four-point probe method. The maximum increase in electrical conductivity is found to be 290%, from 138 to 400 S/cm, and the argon plasma reaction response time for the conductivity increase is fast. Finally, the reasons and mechanism for the noticeable resistivity decrease are discussed.