Structural, Electronic, and Electrical Properties of Y-Doped Cd2SnO4

Cd2SnO4 shows interesting electrical and optical properties that can be useful for many different applications. Apart from our own previous study, there have been no reports on the influence of rare-earth doping on this ternary oxide. Therefore, the synthesis of Y-doped orthorhombic Cd2SnO4 has been optimized, and the resulting solid solutions have been characterized by X-ray diffraction, atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and electrical measurements. XPS results highlight yttrium segregation to the sample surface, and electrical measurements show that the carrier concentration of yttrium-doped samples increases by an order of magnitude with respect to the undoped Cd2SnO4, where the lowest adopted Y-doping level (0.1% with respect to the cadmium) is the most promising in terms of conductivity, carrier concentration, and mobility. Temperature-dependent electrical measurements highlighted that both undoped and Y-doped Cd2SnO4 are degenerate semiconductors.