Study of structural, electrical and optical properties of Ni-doped SnO2 for device application: experimental and theoretical approach

In the present work, we explore the change in properties in Ni doped SnO2 thin film. Rietveld analysis shows that the effect of doping is interstitial and not substitutional. WH plot shows the strain effect on the crystallite size. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy images of the pure and doped sample are in sync with the X-Ray Diffraction results. The impedance drop with frequency is observed to be steeper for the doped sample which can be used in devices where fast impedance switching is needed. The theoretical study reveals the equivalent circuit. The Raman spectra of the samples were observed to show a redshift due to doping. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study where the electrical and optical properties of pure and Ni doped SnO2 were explored, experimentally as well as theoretically using this approach.