Electronic structure and composition of tin oxide thin epitaxial and magnetron layers according to synchrotron XANES studies

Abstract

The materials of the tin-oxygen system and thin-film structures based on them are modern and actual for the creation of a wide range of electronic devices, for example, resistive gas sensors of high sensitivity and short response time with low energy consumption and high manufacturability. An important direction in the study of such materials and structures is the control of properties with variations in technological formation regimes. Information on the composition, local atomic and electronic structure of thin layers of the tin-oxygen system with varying approaches to their production is in demand. The work is devoted to the study of the electronic structure of thin layers of tin oxides obtained by modern methods of molecular beam epitaxy and magnetron sputtering. A study of the local partial density of electronic states in the conduction band by X-ray absorption near edge structure spectroscopy of tin and oxygen has been carried out. The data were obtained using high-intensity synchrotron radiation, which allows varying the monochromatized radiation quantum energy without loss in intensity, that is necessary to obtain high-resolution X-ray spectral data. It is shown that the composition, local atomic surrounding, electronic spectrum and their features depend on the technology of formation and storage conditions of the studied structures. Synchrotron X-ray spectroscopy data show the presence of intermediate oxides of the tin-oxygen system in the studied materials after prolonged storage in laboratory conditions. The data obtained indicate the possibility of controlled variation in the composition, local atomic surrounding and electronic spectrum of thin-film structures of tin oxides of small thickness. The results of the work can be used in the formation and subsequent modification of thin and ultrathin layers of tin oxides by magnetron sputtering and molecular beam epitaxy, as well as in their further application as active layers of microelectronics devices