The study of FTO surface texturing fabrication using Argon plasma etching technique for DSSC applications

This paper is aimed to investigate the fabrication of the fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) texturing by using Argon (Ar) plasma etching. The pressure and temperature of Ar gas during plasma etching were 1.6 mbar and 240-285^oC, respectively. The plasma etching time was varied from 3 and 10 min. We also prepared without etching samples as reference. UV-Vis spectrophotometer showed that the transmittances of etching samples are higher than the without etching samples. The root mean square roughness (Rq) of etching samples are lower than the without etching samples. It is considered that the Ar ions bombardment can modify the FTO surfaces. However, the etching time does not significantly affect the FTO surfaces for 3 min and 10 min. The Rq of the without etching sample, the etching sample for 3 min, and the etching sample for 10 min are 11.697 nm, 9.859 nm, and 9.777 nm, respectively. These results are good agreement with the four point probe measurement that indicated that the sheet resistance (RS) for each the without sample, the etching sample for 3 min, and the etching sample for 10 min are 16.817 Ωsq, 16.067 Ω/sq, and 15.990 Ω/sq. In addition, the optical transmittance of the etching sample for 3 min and the etching sample for 10 min at wavelengths of 350 - 850 nm are almost similar. This is evidence that the etching time below 10 min cannot significantly change the morphology, optical and electrical properties. (paper)