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

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-PIBD 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 SnO_x films composed of grains with nanosize are discussed in terms of chemical state, composition ratio, crystallinity, and surface roughness.