INFLUENCE OF RAPID THERMAL ANNEALING ON THE PROPERTIES OF SNO2 THIN-FILMS

The influence of rapid thermal annealing on SnO2 thin film characteris tics is studied. The films are deposited on silicon substrates by a sp ray pyrolytic technique at various substrate temperatures for various deposition times. The as-deposited SnO2 thin films are further anneale d in two ways: at 1000 degrees C in oxygen for times varying from 15 t o 90 min as well as by rapid thermal annealing in a vacuum of 6.7 x 10 (-3) Pa for 1 min at the same annealing temperature. Changes in film c haracteristics after the thermal treatments are examined. Some feature s of the film surface morphology after the treatments are investigated . Information on the profiles of in-depth element concentration in the annealed SnO2 films by Auger electron spectroscopy is given. Possible mechanisms explaining the experimental results are discussed.