Analysis of nanocrystalline coatings of tin oxides on glass by atomic force microscopy

Abstract Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used to study the relation between the surface morphology of SnO 2 coatings with their room-temperature resistivities. A hot-plate chemical vapor deposition system fed with vapors of tin tetrachloride and methyl alcohol diluted in a nitrogen gas carrier was used to deposit the SnO 2 films on soda-lime glass. It was found that above a critical deposition temperature ( T =643 K), the film resistivity reaches its minimum value, which is almost constant over the wide range of the SnCl 4 vapor concentration used. AFM revealed that the increase in the deposition temperature increased the grain size and that the surface roughness increases with greater SnCl 4 vapor concentration. Therefore films of the same resistivity (deposited at the same temperature) may have different roughnesses.