Liquid Phase Deposition of Tin Oxide Thin Films

Abstract

Tin oxide thin films have been deposited by means of liquid phase deposition using tin fluoride as a precursor. A uniform film was obtained at room temperature with stirring the precursor solution. There were a large amount of hydroxyl groups in the deposited films. However, due to annealing in air, a Sn-O-Sn network was formed in the films through dehydration condensation between the hydroxyl groups resulting in the formation of the films consisting mainly of SnO2. The annealing improved the crystallity of the films as well. The resistivity decreased down to 1.2×10 -2Ωcm by the annealing at 673K. However, the annealing at higher temperatures resulted in the increase in resistivity due to the decrease in carrier mobility and concentration.