Deposition of tin oxide films by pulsed laser evaporation

Abstract

Thin films of S n O^ (0 < x < 1) were deposited on Corning glass and alumina substrates by employing a pulsed laser evaporation (PLE) technique. The microstructural features of the films were probed with Sn"9 conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) whereas the structural characteristics were identified by using low-angle x-ray diifraction measurements. The electrical and optical properties have also been studied. It is shown that films with conductivity of 3 X 102 (ohm • cm) ~' and transmission of 90% can be obtained by appropriate postannealing of the as-deposited films in air and vacuum. The energy gap of this nearly stoichiometric single-phase SnO2 film was found to be 3.5 eV and spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements indicated the refractive index to be typically bet ween 1.8-1.9 over the wavelength range of400-800 nm.

Microstructural evolution of oxides and semiconductor thin films

“…This was clearly demonstrated in previous work [99], where PLD SnO 2 thin films were grown under vacuum (laser fluence of $4.6 J/cm 2 ) over a wide range of deposition temperatures (from room temperature to 600°C), that the as-deposited film consisted of both a polycrystalline SnO 2 phase and an amorphous SnO (a-SnO) phase. Our experimental result also agreed with findings in the literatures [21,[100][101][102]. It is worth recalling that oxygen deficiency in the deposited films is known to result from laser-induced oxygen desorption from the surface layers of the SnO 2 target [100], leading thereby to the growth of a nonstoichiometric compound.…”

“…These characteristics make PLD an attractive option for the deposition of SnO 2 thin films. The successful production of this SnO 2 sensor has been recently demonstrated [21][22][23][24][25][26]. The properties of the thin film strongly depend on its microstructure, composition, atomic structure, local chemistry of interfaces, and crystal defects, which all result from the fabrication process.…”

On the selective deposition of tin and tin oxide on various glasses using a high power diode laser

“…This constraint for the use of sodalime-silica glass has being noticed before by Vispute et al [30].…”

“…In this instance it would seem that during the bonding process, the liquid SnO 2 flowed with varying degrees of ease into small cavities and asperities present on the surface of the soda-lime-silica glass. Indeed, such bonds are typical for most oxides on soda-lime-silica glass substrates [10,30]. In Fig.…”

Influence of the oxygen pressure on the physical properties of the pulsed-laser deposited Te doped SnO2 thin films

“…There are many different techniques used for deposition SnO 2 films: spray pyrolysis [9], reactive electron beam evaporation [10], rf-sputtering [11,12], dc-magnetron sputtering [13], chemical vapor deposition [14], reactive ion assisted deposition [15], filtered vacuum arc deposition [16] and pulsed-laser deposition (PLD) [17]. However, all methods require high substrate temperature or postannealed in order to fabricate good-quality polycrystalline films.…”