SnO 2 thin films were deposited by radio-frequency inductively coupled plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Postplasma treatments were used to modify the microstructure of the as-deposited SnO2 thin films. Uniform nanorods with dimension of ∅7×100nm were observed in the plasma-treated films. After plasma treatments, the optimal operating temperature of the plasma-treated SnO2 thin films decreased by 80 °C, while the gas sensitivity increased eightfold. The enhanced gas sensing properties of the plasma-treated SnO2 thin film were believed to result from the large surface-to-volume ratio of the nanorods’ tiny grain size in the scale comparable to the space-charge length and its unique microstructure of SnO2 nanorods rooted in SnO2 thin films.

Tin oxide thin films have been deposited by a custom-designed inductively coupled plasma chemical vapor deposition (ICP-CVD) system in order to explore its application as an alternative approach for thin film gas sensor preparation. The as-deposited SnO 2 films were of polycrystalline structure with nano-size grains of 12 nm. The SnO 2 films exhibited a maximum sensitivity of 43 to 1000 ppm H 2 at an optimum operating temperature of 350 • C. The response time of the SnO 2 films was 12 s and full recovery was achievable.

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