Polycrystalline SnO2 films grown by chemical vapor deposition on quartz glass

Abstract Tin dioxide (SnO 2 ) thin films were deposited on quartz glass substrates by chemical vapor deposition using SnI 2 and O 2 as reactants. The growth experiments were carried out in the substrate temperature range of 300–900 °C. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, spectrophotometry and Raman spectroscopy were used to characterize the films. The films were polycrystalline with their crystallites having a preferred orientation, which was dependent on the film thickness. The average grain size increased with increasing thickness of the films. The binding energies of Sn 3d 5/2 and O 1s for all samples showed the Sn 4+ and O-Sn 4+ bonding state from SnO 2 . The absolute average transmittance of SnO 2 films exceeded 90% in the visible and infrared range. The obtained SnO 2 films had optical band gaps between 3.78 and 3.92 eV.