Spray Pyrolysis Deposition of Nanostructured Tin Oxide Thin Films

Abstract

Nanostructured SnO 2 thin films were grown by the chemical spray pyrolysis (CSP) method. Homemade spray pyrolysis technique is employed to prepare thin films. SnO 2 is wide bandgap semiconductor material whose film is deposited on glass substrate using aqueous solution of SnCl 4 · 5H 2 O as a precursor. XRD (X-ray diffraction), UV (ultraviolet visible spectroscopy), FESEM (field emission scanning electron microscopy), and EDS (energy dispersive spectroscopy) analysis are done for structural, optical, surface morphological, and compositional analysis. XRD analysis shows polycrystalline nature of samples with pure phase formation. Crystallite size calculated from diffraction peaks is 29.92 nm showing nanostructured thin films. FESEM analysis shows that SnO 2 thin film contains voids with nanoparticles. EDS analysis confirms the composition of deposited thin film on glass substrate. UVvisible absorption spectra show that the bandgap of SnO 2 thin film is 3.54 eV. Bandgap of SnO 2 thin film can be tuned that it can be used in optical devices.

Spray Pyrolysis Deposition of Single and Mixed Oxide Thin Films

“…(Figure 3(a)), the deposited film exhibits porous structure which prevents homogeneity. Such a characteristic porous microstructure has also been observed in a previous study [24]. The pore sizes are in the sub-micron range.…”

Processing of integrated gas sensor devices

“…SnO 2 has been one of the most prominent sensing materials and a variety of gas sensor devices based on SnO 2 thin films has been realized so far [14], [15]. SnO 2 is a special material, as it has a low electrical resistance, a wide bandgap, and a high transparency in the visible spectrum [8]. It has also proven itself to be useful in many industries where an electric contact is required without obstructing photons from traveling through the optical active area.…”

“…Deposition can proceed in a variety of ways, including chemical vapor deposition [35], sputtering [36], pulsed-laser deposition [37], sol-gel process [38], rheotaxial growth and vacuum oxidation [19], and spray pyrolysis [8]. Sputtering and spray pyrolysis are methods which are quite straight forward to implement within the CMOS sequence.…”

“…Recent discoveries in the use of metal oxides as gas sensing materials are at the forefront for enabling significant progress in moving away from bulky sensor architectures [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. Two materials have been validated to exhibit all the properties required for a good gas sensing performance, namely zinc oxide (ZnO) [6], [7] and tin oxide (SnO 2 ) [8], [9], [10], while others such as indium tin oxide (ITO), In 2 O 3 , CdO, ZnSnO 4 , NiO, etc. have also been widely studied [11].…”

Metal Chalcogenide Nanocrystalline Solid Thin Films

“…1. 48 The basic principle involved in the spray pyrolysis technique is pyrolytic decomposition of salts of a desired compound to be deposited. Every sprayed droplet reaching the surface of the hot substrate undergoes pyrolytic decomposition and the reaction between the constituents forms a single crystalline or cluster of crystallites as a product.…”