The change in the electrical transport mechanism from the grain boundary conduction to the nearest-neighbor hopping conduction in SnO2

Abstract

The electrical conductivity measurements on SnO2 over a wide range of temperatures were performed. The results provided experimental evidence for a transition from the grain boundary (GB) conduction at high temperatures to the nearest-neighbor hopping (NNH) conduction at low temperatures. In the light of employed conduction models, characteristic parameters describing the electrical transport in SnO2, such as the grain barrier height and donor concentration were determined. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements of SnO2 were also presented.