Finely patterned transparent, conductive SnO2 thin films have been prepared
. UV-light from a high-pressure mercury lamp was irradiated through a mask
on the precursor films prepared from SnCl2 with acetyl acetone in the ambie
nt atmosphere, and this irradiation led to the change of solubility of the
films in alkaline solution. Patterns with a width of about 3 to 50 mum and
thickness of about 0.1 mum were formed with a pitch of about 2 to 20 mum. T
he resistivity of the films heat-treated at 500 degreesC after UV irradiati
on was about 1 x 10(-2) Omega cm, which was almost the same resisitivity fo
r the films heat-treated at 500 degreesC without UV irradiation.