XPS study of the surface chemistry of L-CVD SnO2 thin films after oxidation

In this paper we present the results of XPS study of the surface chemistry of L-CVD SnO2 thin films onto Si(100) before and after subsequent additional oxidation. Moreover, the ageing effect was also studied in order to check the influence of ambient oxidation. As-deposited L-CVD SnO2 thin films exhibit evident nonstoichiometry with the relative concentration [O]/[Sn] equal to 1.29 ± 0.1. After in situ oxidation at high temperature (800 K) the relative concentration [O]/[Sn] increases to 1.95 ± 0.05 which corresponds to the almost stoichiometric SnO2. Almost the same relative concentration [O]/[Sn] of L-CVD SnO2 thin films has been obtained after long term exposure to air. The oxidation states of L-CVD SnO2 thin films in both cases were confirmed by the shape analysis of corresponding XPS O1s and Sn3d5/2 peaks using the decomposition procedure. For the as-deposited L-CVD SnO2 thin films a mixture of SnO and SnO2 was observed, while for the oxidized L-CVD SnO2 thin films the domination of SnO2 was determined.