A study on 120 MeV Ag9+ irradiation induced modifications in structural, electrical and optical behavior of ZnSnO3 thin films

Spray deposited ZnSnO3 thin films have been irradiated with 120 MeV Ag9+ ions at the fluence of 1 × 1012 and 1 × 1013 ions cm−2. The structural, electrical and optical properties of the pristine and irradiated films were studied using X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, optical transmittance and Hall measurement system. X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the film is amorphized at higher ion fluence. The AFM study of the films implied that roughness of the pristine film increases from 14 to 19 nm after the irradiation. A minimum resistivity of 3.31 × 10−2 Ω cm and maximum carrier concentration of 1.31 × 1019 cm−3 have been achieved when the film was irradiated with the fluence of 1 × 1013 ions cm−2. The band gap value decreases from 3.60 to 3.13 eV for the film irradiated with 1 × 1013 ions cm−2.