Investigation of the growth of few-layer SnS₂ thin films via atomic layer deposition on an O₂ plasma-treated substrate

Abstract

Despite increasing interest in tin disulfide (SnS2) as a two-dimensional (2D) material due to its promising electrical and optical properties, the surface treatment of silicon dioxide (SiO2) substrates prior to the atomic layer deposition (ALD) deposition of SnS2 has not been thoroughly studied. In this paper, we prepared two types of SiO2 substrates with and without using an O2 plasma surface treatment and compared the ALD growth behavior of SnS2 on the SiO2 substrates. The hydrophilic properties of the two SiO2 substrates were investigated by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and contact angle measurements, which showed that using an O2 plasma surface treatment tuned the surface to be more hydrophilic. ALD-grown SnS2 thin films on the two different SiO2 substrates were characterized by x-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. To estimate the exact thickness of the ALD-grown SnS2 thin films, transmission electron microscopy was used. Our data revealed that using O2 plasma surface treatment increased the growth rate of the initial ALD stage. Thus, the ALD-grown SnS2 thin film on the SiO2 substrate treated with O2 plasma was thicker than the film grown on the non-treated SiO2 substrate.

Enhanced Piezoelectric Output Performance of the SnS2/SnS Heterostructure Thin-Film Piezoelectric Nanogenerator Realized by Atomic Layer Deposition

“…Carbon species were observed, and a C–C bond peak in C 1s (284.5 eV) was used as a reference to calibrate binding energies of Sn 3d and S 2p. The SnS 2 thin film has binding energy peaks at 486.6 eV for Sn 3d 5/2 and 161.7 eV for S 2p 3/2 , which relate to the Sn 4+ state and S 2– state, respectively. , In the case of SnS, the binding energy peaks of Sn 3d 5/2 and S 2p 3/2 were obtained at 485.8 and 161.2 eV, respectively. This obtained binding energy indicates that the Sn 3d and S 2p peaks were shifted to a lower binding energy as the process temperature increased, which is consistent with the previous reports. , In addition, at a temperature between 190 and 230 °C, mixed phases of SnS 2 and SnS thin films were observed.…”

“…Because of the sequential exposure of the precursor and counter-reactant separated by the purging steps, chemical reactions that depend on the surface properties occur on the surface. Therefore, before the thin-film deposition, the substrate was treated with UV-O 3 . Because of self-limiting reactions of the ALD process, the film thickness control was achieved by adjusting the ALD cycles.…”

Atomic Layer Deposition of 2D Metal Dichalcogenides for Electronics, Catalysis, Energy Storage, and Beyond

“…partly cryst, ann. ≈10-20 nm) FET [243] 2020 [244] 150 (100 to 350 (multistep), H 2 S) ≈50 nm rough films (≈50 nm) Gas sensor [245] 150 (100 to 350 (multistep), H 2 S) 6 ML films (as-dep. ?, ann.…”

Atomic-Layer-Deposited SiOx/SnOx Nanolaminate Structure for Moisture and Hydrogen Gas Diffusion Barriers

“…Figure b shows the O 1s peak deconvolution of p-SiO x and p-SnO x into three Gaussian distributions, respectively. The O 1s binding energies at 532.8, 531.7, and 533.7 eV of p-SiO x represent SiO 2 , Si-OH, and Si-O, respectively. , O 1s binding energies at 530.4, 531.7, and 529.1 eV of p-SnO x correspond to SnO 2 , Sn–OH, and Sn–O. , Since the metal:oxygen composition ratios on the surfaces of the two materials are similar (Table ), the amount of hydroxyl ligands on the surfaces can be predicted by the ratio of area under the deconvoluted −OH subpeak. The -OH peak areas of p-SiO x and p-SnO x were 17.0 and 24.2%, respectively, indicating that the amount of surface −OH on p-SnO 2 was greater.…”