F. Kormos, I. Rotariu, G. Tolnai, M. Pavel, C. Roman, E. Kalman, The stability of Sb:SnO2(ATO) nanostructured protecting films on glass, J. Optoelectronic. Adv. Mater., 9/7 (2007) 2232-2236

Title: The stability of Sb:SnO2(ATO) nanostructured protecting films on glass

Abstract: The mechanical and chemical stability of ATO (Antimony doped Tin dioxide) Sb:SnO2 films are recognized for their corrosion protecting capability, but their lifetime is strongly dependent on the preparation conditions. This work reports on a study of the lifetime of ATO films deposited on the glass substrate by two different techniques: CVD (chemical vapour deposition) and SG (sol-gel) method. The lifetime variation in the presence of chemically degrading medium (HCl, NaCl and tartric acid) was established by measuring the evolution of the sheet resistance, the optical transmittance in the visible region and the corrosion potential. The very low monthly corrosion rate shows a good stability for all studied degrading medium. The variation of the investigated properties proves that the films can resist for four months without remarkable damage.

Key words: Sb:SnO2; coating on glass; corrosion; lifetime