title: Morphological studies of SnO2 thin films fabricated by using e-beam method.
abstract: This paper studies the variations in morphology of SnO2 nanostructures thin films deposited by using e-beam technique with the substrate temperature, oxygen partial pressure and the film thickness. The e-beam conditions were optimized to get crystalline nanosheets of SnO2. The films of 100-700 nm thickness were deposited on quartz substrates at temperatures ranging from room temperature (RT) to 300 degrees C and oxygen partial pressure ranging from 0 to 200 sccm. The nanostructured films have been characterized by means of X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) and Energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) measurements. XRD results show that the films deposited at RT and 100 degrees C were amorphous, however, for 200 degrees C and 300 degrees C, the films showed crystalline nature with rutile structure. Also, the crystallinity increased with the increase of oxygen partial pressure. FE-SEM images revealed that at RT and 100 degrees C of substrate temperature, the film consist of spherical particles, whereas, the films deposited at 200 degrees C and 300 degrees C consist of sheet like morphology having thickness -40 nm and lateral dimension of 1 microm, respectively. The size of the nanosheets increased with the increase of substrate temperature and oxygen partial pressure due to the enhancement in the crystallinity of the films. A possible growth mechanism of the formation of SnO2 nanosheets is discussed.
authors.affiliation: School of Nano and Advanced Materials Engineering, Changwon National University, 641-773 Changwon, Korea.
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Heo
authors.forename: C H
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Y J
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.forename: K Y
authors.initials: KY
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ahmed
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Anwar
authors.forename: B H
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Koo
mesh_terms: D004583:Electrons; D046911:Macromolecular Substances / Q000737:chemistry / Q000528:radiation effects; D008422:Materials Testing; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D008968:Molecular Conformation / Q000528:radiation effects; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D010100:Oxygen / Q000737:chemistry*; D010316:Particle Size; D013499:Surface Properties / Q000528:radiation effects; D017971:Tin Compounds / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects
chemical_list: D046911:Macromolecular Substances; D008567:Membranes, Artificial; D017971:Tin Compounds; C045358:stannic oxide; D010100:Oxygen