Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Salah, Sarah, Atlam, Ahmed, Elkahwagy, Nagat, Elshaer, Abdelhamid, Shihab, Mohammed
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2026
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.11970
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866911444330610688
author Salah, Sarah
Atlam, Ahmed
Elkahwagy, Nagat
Elshaer, Abdelhamid
Shihab, Mohammed
author_facet Salah, Sarah
Atlam, Ahmed
Elkahwagy, Nagat
Elshaer, Abdelhamid
Shihab, Mohammed
contents Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is a key transparent conductive oxide for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, yet its high reflectance limits light-trapping efficiency. This work demonstrates a simple DC plasma sputtering approach to deposit carbonaceous Al2O3 microdots on FTO under controlled Ar, O2, and Ar-O2 atmospheres. For plasma discharge in the normal mode, with plasma density 10^9 cm^-3 and temperature of 2 eV, Volmer-Weber growth produced discrete microdots whose size and distribution were tuned by gas composition: dense, uniform dots in Ar (approximately 0.89 um radius), agglomerated structures in O2, and intermediate morphologies in mixed atmospheres. Structural analysis confirmed Al2O3 formation with carbon incorporation, while SEM revealed morphology-driven optical behavior. UV-Vis measurements showed that Ar-O2 coatings achieved the lowest reflectance across the visible range, outperforming bare FTO and other conditions. These findings establish a clear link between sputtering parameters, surface morphology, and optical performance, offering a scalable route to anti-reflective, light-trapping coatings for next-generation solar cells and optoelectronic devices.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2602_11970
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Tuning Optical Properties of FTO via Carbonaceous Al2O3 Microdot Deposition by DC plasma sputtering
Salah, Sarah
Atlam, Ahmed
Elkahwagy, Nagat
Elshaer, Abdelhamid
Shihab, Mohammed
Plasma Physics
Materials Science
Fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) is a key transparent conductive oxide for photovoltaic and optoelectronic devices, yet its high reflectance limits light-trapping efficiency. This work demonstrates a simple DC plasma sputtering approach to deposit carbonaceous Al2O3 microdots on FTO under controlled Ar, O2, and Ar-O2 atmospheres. For plasma discharge in the normal mode, with plasma density 10^9 cm^-3 and temperature of 2 eV, Volmer-Weber growth produced discrete microdots whose size and distribution were tuned by gas composition: dense, uniform dots in Ar (approximately 0.89 um radius), agglomerated structures in O2, and intermediate morphologies in mixed atmospheres. Structural analysis confirmed Al2O3 formation with carbon incorporation, while SEM revealed morphology-driven optical behavior. UV-Vis measurements showed that Ar-O2 coatings achieved the lowest reflectance across the visible range, outperforming bare FTO and other conditions. These findings establish a clear link between sputtering parameters, surface morphology, and optical performance, offering a scalable route to anti-reflective, light-trapping coatings for next-generation solar cells and optoelectronic devices.
title Tuning Optical Properties of FTO via Carbonaceous Al2O3 Microdot Deposition by DC plasma sputtering
topic Plasma Physics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.11970