Abstract
This review article summarizes the new research in solid-state physical chemistry understanding of the microstructure characteristics of semiconductor tin oxide thin films made in the last years in our group. The work mainly focuses on the fabrication technology of semiconductor tin oxides thin films by using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) as well as the application of this technology on new micro- and nanostructured materials. It is an interdisciplinary work that integrates the areas of physics, chemistry and materials science.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Chopra K L, Major S, Pandya D K. Transparent conductors — A status review. Thin Solid Films, 1983, 102(1): 1–46
Kohl D. The role of noble metals in the chemistry of solid-state gas sensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 1990, 1(1–6): 158–165
Abello L, Bochu B, Gaskov A, et al. Structural characterization of nanocrystalline SnO2 by X-ray and Raman spectroscopy. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 1998, 135(1): 78–85
Ansari S G, Boroojerdian P, Sainkar S R, et al. Grain size effects on H2 gas sensitivity of thick film resistor using SnO2 nanoparticles. Thin Solid Films, 1997, 295(1–2): 271–276
Ferrere S, Zaban A, Gregg B A. Dye sensitization of nanocrystalline tin oxide by perylene derivatives. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 1997, 101(23): 4490–4493
Varghese O K, Malhotra L K. Electrode-sample capacitance effect on ethanol sensitivity of nano-grained SnO2 thin films. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 1998, 53(1–2): 19–23
He Y S, Campbell J C, Murphy R C, et al. Electrical and optical characterization of Sb:SnO2. Journal of Materials Research, 1993, 8(12): 3131–3134
Wang D, Wen S, Chen J, et al. Microstructure of SnO2. Physical Review B, 1994, 49(20): 14282–14285
Cirera A, Vilà A, Diéguez A, et al. Microwave processing for the low cost, mass production of undoped and in situ catalytic doped nanosized SnO2 gas sensor powders. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 2000, 64(1–3): 65–69
Sekizawa K, Widjaja H, Maeda S, et al. Low temperature oxidation of methane over Pd catalyst supported on metal oxides. Catalysis Today, 2000, 59(1–2): 69–74
Dai Z R, Gole J L, Stout J D, et al. Tin oxide nanowires, nanoribbons, and nanotubes. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2002, 106(6): 1274–1279
Liu Y, Zheng C, Wang W, et al. Synthesis and characterization of rutile SnO2 nanorods. Advanced Materials, 2001, 13(24): 1883–1887
Xu C K, Xu G D, Liu Y K, et al. Preparation and characterization of SnO2 nanorods by thermal decomposition of SnC2O4 precursor. Scripta Materialia, 2002, 46(11): 789–794
Pan Z W, Dai Z R, Wang Z L. Nanobelts of semiconducting oxides. Science, 2001, 291(5510): 1947–1949
Dai Z R, Pan Z W, Wang Z L. Ultra-long single crystalline nanoribbons of tin oxide. Solid State Communications, 2001, 118(7): 351–354
Hu J Q, Ma X L, Shang N G, et al. Large-scale rapid oxidation synthesis of SnO2 nanoribbons. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 2002, 106(15): 3823–3826
Maddalena A, Maschio R D, Dire S, et al. Electrical conductivity of tin oxide films prepared by the sol-gel method. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 1990, 121(1–3): 365–369
Shek C H, Lai J K L, Lin G M. Grain growth in nanocrystalline SnO2 prepared by sol-gel route. Nanostructured Materials, 1999, 11(7): 887–893
Ghoshtagore R N. Mechanism of CVD thin film SnO2 formation. Journal of the Electrochemical Society, 1978, 125(1): 110–117
Tarey R D, Raju T A. A method for the deposition of transparent conducting thin films of tin oxide. Thin Solid Films, 1985, 128(3–4): 181–189
Minami T, Nanto H, Takata S. Highly conducting and transparent SnO2 thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering on low-temperature substrates. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 1988, 27(1): L287–L289
Zhu J J, Lu Z H, Aruna S T, et al. Sonochemical synthesis of SnO2 nanoparticles and their preliminary study as Li insertion electrodes. Chemistry of Materials, 2000, 12(9): 2557–2566
Schlosser V, Wind G. Electrical and optical properties of tin oxide layers prepared by physical vapor deposition. In: Solomon I, Equer B, Helm P, eds. Eighth E.C. Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference: Proceedings of the International Conference, Held at Florence, Italy, May 9–13, 1988. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1988, 998
Zhu X, Birringer R, Herr U, et al. X-ray diffraction studies of the structure of nanometer-sized crystalline materials. Physical Review B, 1987, 35(17): 9085–9090
Schaefer H E, Würschum R, Birringer R, et al. Structure of nanometer-sized polycrystalline iron investigated by positron lifetime spectroscopy. Physical Review B, 1988, 38(14): 9545–9554
Chrisey D B, Hubler G K. Pulsed Laser Deposition of Thin Films. New York: Wiley, 1994, 327
Willmott P R, Huber J R. Pulsed laser vaporization and deposition. Reviews of Modern Physics, 2000, 72(1): 315–328
Auciello O, Engemann J, eds. Multicomponent and Multilayered Thin Films for Advanced Microtechnologies: Techniques, Fundamentals, and Devices. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993
Bäuerle D. Laser Processing and Chemistry. New York: Springer, 1996
Chen Z W, Lai J K L, Shek C H, et al. Nucleation and growth of SnO2 nanocrystallites prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Applied Physics A: Materials Science & Processing, 2005, 81(5): 959–962
von Allmen M, Blatter A. Laser-Beam Interactions with Materials. New York: Springer, 1995
Campbell C T, Parker S C, Starr D E. The effect of size-dependent nanoparticle energetics on catalyst sintering. Science, 2002, 298(5594): 811–814
Merkle K L, Thompson L J, Phillipp F. Collective effects in grain boundary migration. Physical Review Letters, 2002, 88(22): 225501 (4 pages)
Moldovan D, Yamakov V, Wolf D, et al. Scaling behavior of grain-rotation-induced grain growth. Physical Review Letters, 2002, 89(20): 206101 (4 pages)
Penn R L, Banfield J F. Imperfect oriented attachment: dislocation generation in defect-free nanocrystals. Science, 1998, 281(5379): 969–971
Leite E R, Giraldi T R, Pontes F M, et al. Crystal growth in colloidal tin oxide nanocrystals induced by coalescence at room temperature. Applied Physics Letters, 2003, 83(8): 1566–1568
Leite E R, Weber I T, Longo E, et al. A new method to control particle size and particle size distribution of SnO2 nanoparticles for gas sensor applications. Advanced Materials, 2000, 12(13): 965–968
Leite E R, Maciel A P, Weber I T, et al. Development of metal oxide nanoparticles with high stability against particle growth using a metastable solid solution. Advanced Materials, 2002, 14(12): 905–908
Musolino V, Dal Corso A, Selloni A. Initial stages of growth of copper on MgO(100): A first principles study. Physical Review Letters, 1999, 83(14): 2761–2764
Hu M, Noda S, Komiyama H. A new insight into the growth mode of metals on TiO2(110). Surface Science, 2002, 513(3): 530–538
Bajt S, Stearns D G, Kearney P A. Investigation of the amorphous-to-crystalline transition in Mo/Si multilayers. Journal of Applied Physics, 2001, 90(2): 1017–1025
Soler J M, Beltran M R, Michaelian K, et al. Metallic bonding and cluster structure. Physical Review B, 2000, 61(8): 5771–5780
Hu M, Noda S, Tsuji Y, et al. Effect of interfacial interactions on the initial growth of Cu on clean SiO2 and 3-mercaptopropyltrimethoxysilane-modified SiO2 substrates. Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, 2002, 20(3): 589–596
Zuo J M, Li B Q. Nanostructure evolution during cluster growth: Ag on H-terminated Si(111) surfaces. Physical Review Letters, 2002, 88(25): 255502 (4 pages)
Williams G, Coles G S V. Gas sensing properties of nanocrystalline metal oxide powders produced by a laser evaporation technique. Journal of Materials Chemistry, 1998, 8(7): 1657–1664
Bruno L, Pijolat C, Lalauze R. Tin dioxide thin-film gas sensor prepared by chemical vapour deposition: Influence of grain size and thickness on the electrical properties. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 1994, 18(1–3): 195–199
Serventi A M, Dolbec R, El Khakani M A, et al. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy investigation of the nanostructure of undoped and Pt-doped nanocrystalline pulsed laser deposited SnO2 thin films. Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids, 2003, 64(11): 2097–2103
Chen Z W, Lai J K L, Shek C H, et al. Synthesis and structural characterization of rutile SnO2 nanocrystals. Journal of Materials Research, 2003, 18(6): 1289–1292
Chen Z W, Lai J K L, Shek C H, et al. Multifractal spectra of scanning electron microscope images of SnO2 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Physics Letters A, 2005, 345(1–3): 218–223
Chen Z W, Lai J K L, Shek C H. Insights into microstructural evolution from nanocrystalline SnO2 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Physical Review B, 2004, 70(16): 165314 (7 pages)
Chen Z W, Lai J K L, Shek C H. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy investigation of nanostructures in SnO2 thin films prepared by pulsed laser deposition. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 2005, 178(3): 892–896
Chen ZW, Lai J K L, Shek C H. Mystery of porous SnO2 thin film formation by pulsed delivery. Chemical Physics Letters, 2006, 422(1–3): 1–5
Serventi A M, El Khakani M A, Saint-Jacques R G, et al. Highly textured nanostructure of pulsed laser deposited IrO2 thin films as investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Journal of Materials Research, 2001, 16 (08): 2336–2342
Butty J, Peyghambarian N, Kao Y H, et al. Room temperature optical gain in sol-gel derived CdS quantum dots. Applied Physics Letters, 1996, 69(21): 3224–3226
Chen Z W, Wang X P, Tan S, et al. Multifractal behavior of crystallization on Au/Ge bilayer films. Physical Review B, 2001, 63(16): 165413 (5 pages)
Huang L J, Liu B X, Ding J R, et al. Multifractal characteristics of magnetic-microsphere aggregates in thin films. Physical Review B, 1989, 40(1): 858–861
Li H, Ding Z, Wu Z. Multifractal behavior of the distribution of secondary-electron-emission sites on solid surfaces. Physical Review B, 1995, 51(19): 13554–13559
Li H, Ding Z-J, Wu Z. Multifractal analysis of the spatial distribution of secondary-electron emission sites. Physical Review B, 1996, 53(24): 16631–16636
Wang B, Wang Y, Wu Z. Multifractal behavior of solid-on-solid growth. Solid State Communications, 1995, 96(2): 69–72
Ohta S, Honjo H. Growth probability distribution in irregular fractal-like crystal growth of ammonium chloride. Physical Review Letters, 1988, 60(7): 611–614
Xu C, Tamaki J, Miura N, et al. Grain size effects on gas sensitivity of porous SnO2-based elements. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 1991, 3(2): 147–155
Baumann T F, Kucheyev S O, Gash A E, et al. Facile synthesis of a crystalline, high-surface-area SnO2 aerogel. Advanced Materials, 2005, 17(12): 1546–1548
Cheng B, Russell J M, Shi W S, et al. Large-scale, solution-phase growth of single-crystalline SnO2 nanorods. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 2004, 126(19): 5972–5973
Hu J Q, Bando Y, Liu Q L, et al. Laser-ablation growth and optical properties of wide and long single-crystal SnO2 ribbons. Advanced Functional Materials, 2003, 13(6): 493–496
McCarthy G, Welton J. X-ray diffraction data for SnO2. An illustration of the new powder data evaluation methods. Journal of Materials Characterization, 1989, 4(03): 156–159
Traylor J G, Smith H G, Nicklow R M, et al. Wilkinson, lattice dynamics of rutile. Physical Review B, 1971, 3(10): 3457–3472
Peercy P S, Morosin B. Pressure and temperature dependences of the Raman-active phonons in SnO2. Physical Review B, 1973, 7(6): 2779–2786
Diéguez A, Romano-Rodríguez A, Vilà A, et al. The complete Raman spectrum of nanometric SnO2 particles. Journal of Applied Physics, 2001, 90(3): 1550–1557
Wang G H, Han M. Structure and properties of nanocrystalline materials. Progress in Physics, 1990, 10(3): 248–289
Romanowski W. Equilibrium forms of very small metallic crystals. Surface Science, 1969, 18(2): 373–388
Jones F H, Dixon R, Foord J S, et al. The surface structure of SnO2(110)(4 1) revealed by scanning tunneling microscopy. Surface Science, 1997, 376(1–3): 367–373
Pagnier T, Boulova M, Galerie A, et al. In situ coupled Raman and impedance measurements of the reactivity of nanocrystalline SnO2 versus H2S. Journal of Solid State Chemistry, 1999, 143(1): 86–94
Hama T, Matsubara T. Self-consistent Einstein model and theory of anharmonic surface vibration. II Face-centered cubic lattice. Progress of Theoretical Physics, 1978, 59(5): 1407–1417
Hayashi S, Yamamoto K. Amorphous-like Raman spectra of semiconductor microcrystals. Superlattices and Microstructures, 1986, 2(6): 581–585
Dolbec R, El Khakani M A, Serventi A M, et al. Microstructure and physical properties of nanostructured tin oxide thin films grown by means of pulsed laser deposition. Thin Solid Films, 2002, 419(1–2): 230–236
Greskovich C, Lay K W. Grain growth in very porous Al2O3 compacts. Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 1972, 55(3): 142–146
Penn R L, Banfield J F. Morphology development and crystal growth in nanocrystalline aggregates under hydrothermal conditions: insights from titania. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 1999, 63(10): 1549–1557
Oviedo J, Gillan M J. Energetics and structure of stoichiometric SnO2 surfaces studied by first-principles calculations. Surface Science, 2000, 463(2): 93–101
Slater B, Catlow C R A, Gay D H, et al. Study of surface segregation of antimony on SnO2 surfaces by computer simulation techniques. The Journal of Physical Chemistry B, 1999, 103(48): 10644–10650
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding authors
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chen, ZW., Shek, CH., Wu, C.M.L. et al. Recent research situation in tin dioxide nanomaterials: synthesis, microstructures, and properties. Front. Mater. Sci. 7, 203–226 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-013-0209-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11706-013-0209-5