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Haiyan Fan, Scott A. Reid

Phase transformations in pulsed laser deposited nanocrystalline tin oxide thin films

Chemistry of Materials 15 (2003) 564–567

Thin SnOx films have been synthesized with the method of pulsed laser deposition and their microstructure examined using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The films were amorphous as grown and subjected to postdeposition annealing in air to various temperatures. The litharge phase of SnO (α-SnO) was found only in films grown at laser fluences greater than similar to 1.9 108 W cm–2 and was stable in the temperature range of similar to 300–500 °C. Formation of the orthorhombic SnO2 phase (o-SnO2) was correlated with film thickness, being found in thicker films (basically, >500 nm) at similar to 500 °C, and was stable up to similar to 900 °C. These observations are examined in light of results from time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis of the ablated plume. The average grain size of these films, as determined from the XRD peak widths, was found to increase with increasing laser fluence and film thickness.

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