Comparison of properties of tin oxide films deposited by reactive-partially ionized beam, ion assisted, and hybrid ion beam methods

Abstract

A hybrid ion beam (HIB) technique that consists of a reactive-partially ionized beam deposition (R-PIBD) and a gas ion gun was adopted to deposit tin oxide thin films on Si(100) substrate under various deposition conditions. Tin oxide films grown by R-PlBD showed nonstoichiometric composition and the main phases of the films consisted of Sn metal and SnO. Surface roughness of the films deposited by R-PIBD were changed from 4.7 to 27.4 nm with increasing acceleration voltage from 0 to 4 kV. The films assisted by oxygen ion show the chemical state of Sn4+ which is similar to that of a standard SnO2 powder. Also, the films represent flat surface roughness much less than the case of R-PIBD. A film with a highly preferred orientation along the SnO2 (200)plane and with grain size 80.5 nm was successfully grown by IAD. The SnOx films composed of grains with nanosize are discussed in terms of chemical state, composition ratio, crystallinity, and surface roughness. (C) 1997 Acta Metallurgica Inc.