ECS Journal of Solid State
Science and Technology

     

OPEN ACCESS

Preferential Orientation and Surface Oxidation
Control in Reactively Sputter Deposited
Nanocrystalline SnO2:Sb Films: Electrochemical
and Optical Results
To cite this article: J. Montero et al 2014 ECS J. Solid State Sci. Technol. 3 N151

 

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ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 3 (11) N151-N153 (2014) N151

Preferential Orientation and Surface Oxidation Control in
Reactively Sputter Deposited Nanocrystalline SnO2:Sb Films:
Electrochemical and Optical Results
J. Montero,a,z C. Guillén,b C. G. Granqvist,a J. Herrero,b and G. A. Niklassona

aDepartment of Engineering Sciences, The Ångström Laboratory, Uppsala University, SE-751 21 Uppsala, Sweden
bDepartment of Energy, Ciemat, E-28040 Madrid, Spain

Antimony doped tin oxide is a versatile transparent electrical conductor. Many of its properties depend on the electronic band structure
at the surface of a thin film–such as the position of the Fermi level, ionization potential Ip, optical gap energy, etc.–which in its turn
is related to the surface termination given by the crystallographic orientation of the film. We prepared SnO2:Sb films by reactive
DC magnetron sputtering at different oxygen/argon ratios and found by X-ray diffraction that the crystallographic orientation could
be changed from tetragonal (101) to tetragonal (110) as the oxygen content was raised. Electrochemical measurements showed that
this change in preferential orientation was accompanied by an increase of Ip by more than 1 eV as a result of the modification of the
oxidation state of tin atoms at the film’s surface. Such alterations of Ip have a large impact on the electrochemical, photocatalytic and
gas sensing behavior of the material. Moreover, preferential orientation control–and hence Ip tuning–allow the tailoring of SnO2:Sb
electrodes for various application by reducing the Schottky barrier.
© The Author(s) 2014. Published by ECS. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons
Attribution Non-Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 License (CC BY-NC-ND, http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/),
which permits non-commercial reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is not changed in any
way and is properly cited. For permission for commercial reuse, please email: oa@electrochem.org. [DOI: 10.1149/2.0171411jss]
All rights reserved.

Manuscript submitted July 23, 2014; revised manuscript received September 9, 2014. Published September 19, 2014.

Antimony doped tin oxide (SnO2:Sb, denoted ATO) is a transpar-
ent conducting oxide1–6 with a number of assets such as low cost,
chemical inertness and non-toxicity. Thin films are readily made by
sputter deposition as well as other techniques2,6,7 and offer a mul-
titude of applications in present and forthcoming technology. Thus
ATO films are of interest for energy generation and savings8–10 and
can be used as electrodes for solar cells, light emitting diodes and
electrochromic smart windows;11–13 other applications include gas
sensing14 and photocatalysis.15 Successful use of any material as an
electrode, or as a gas sensor or photocatalyst, is to a large extent de-
pendent on the position of its energy bands–i.e., locations of Fermi
level, ionization potential Ip, optical gap energy, etc–in relation the
vacuum level.16–19

In this work we deposited ATO thin films by reactive DC mag-
netron sputtering under different conditions and studied Ip by electro-
chemical measurements. In particular we found by X-ray diffraction
(XRD) that the crystalline structure, and hence Ip, depended critically
on the oxygen/argon ratio in the sputter plasma.

Experimental

ATO films were prepared by reactive DC magnetron sputter-
ing onto unheated soda-lime glass substrates, 5 × 5 cm2 in area
and 3 mm thick. The target was a Sn:Sb disk (Sn:Sb = 95:5%
by weight, 99.99% purity) with a diameter of 150 mm and
6 mm thickness. The deposition chamber was first evacuated to a
base pressure of 2 × 10−7 mbar. The pressure was then raised to
around 4 × 10−3 mbar by the inlet of oxygen and argon fluxes. de-
noted �O2 and �Ar, respectively. The gas mixing ratio �, defined by

� = �O2/(�O2 + �Ar), [1]

ranged from 0.17 to 0.67. The discharge power density was set to
1.13 W/cm2, and the deposition time was adjusted to reach a film
thickness of ∼400 nm as measured by a Dektak 3030 profilometer.
Post-deposition annealing in air or N2 was performed at temperatures
of 250, 350 and 450◦C by use of a quartz tube furnace in order to
obtain films with different properties.

The crystalline structure of the samples was characterized by XRD
using a Philips X’Pert-MPD diffractometer. The intensity ratio of the

zE-mail: jose.montero@angstrom.uu.se

main characteristic XRD peaks for the tin dioxide cassiterite directions
(101) and (110)–referred to as I(101) and I(110), respectively–was defined
as

ψ = I(101)/[I(101) + I(110)] [2]

and used as parameter for structural characterization of the films. Op-
tical transmittance and reflectance in the 300–2500 nm wavelength
range were measured with a Perkin-Elmer Lambda 9 UV-VIS-NIR
spectrophotometer. Electrochemical measurements were carried out
in a two-electrode cell containing an electrolyte of 1 M lithium per-
chlorate in propylene carbonate. The ATO sample acted as working
electrode and the reference electrode was a metallic Li foil. The open-
circuit potential Voc of the setup was recorded with the Li/Li+ redox
potential ELi/Li+ as reference. Measurements were performed under
Ar atmosphere in a glove box containing less than 0.6 ppm of H2O.

Additional information regarding optical and electrical properties
as a function of deposition parameters and post-deposition anneal-
ing processes, as well as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measure-
ments performed on these ATO samples, can be found in our previous
work.2,7

Theoretical Issues

Figure 1 shows the main equilibrium energy levels of an ATO film
aligned according to the ELi/Li+ level and the vacuum level Evac. The
energies of the different bands are designed as usual: Evbm and Ecbm

are the energy of the valence band maximum and the conduction band
minimum, respectively. When an ATO sample is immersed in the
electrolyte, the measured Voc is given by the position of ATO’s Fermi
energy Ef in relation to the ELi/Li+ level.20 Therefore Voc, together
with the optical bandgap Eg0, will provide useful information about
ATO’s surface ionization potential and other band lineups. Voc was
multiplied by the electron charge qe in order to get the energy barrier.
Eg0 was obtained from spectral optical data on the absorption coeffi-
cient, derived from transmittance and reflectance measurements and
taking into account the direct nature of ATO’s band-edge transition,
as discussed elsewhere.7,11

As observed in Fig. 1, the work function Wf of ATO can be affected
by variations in the position of Ef. These variations can ensue from an
increasing free charge-carrier concentration, which is well-known as
the Moss-Burstein shift21,22 designed �Emb. Moreover, as discussed
by Körber et al.,23 a modification the dipoles at the ATO surface will

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N152 ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 3 (11) N151-N153 (2014)

Figure 1. Equilibrium energy levels of an ATO film referred to the vacuum
level Evac and to the Li/Li+ redox potential ELi/Li+. The energy of the different
bands and potential barriers are designed as usual (see text).

lead to a change of Ip. Therefore, we have selected Ip as the parameter
of study in this work.

A determination of Ip comprises two steps: electrochemical mea-
surement of Voc and optical determination of Eg0. Since ELi/Li+ is
positioned 1.4 eV below Evac,24–26 it is possible to obtain Ip as a func-
tion of Voc and Eg0 from

Ip = Eg0 + qeVoc + ELi/Li+, [3]

as also apparent from Fig. 1.

Results and Discussion

The preferential orientation of ATO films is strongly dependent on
the oxygen content during the deposition processes, as evident from
Fig. 2. The diffraction patterns shown in this figure correspond to
a selection of representative samples deposited at various values of
� and studied before and after different annealing treatments. Each
diffractogram has a label indicating the characteristics of the film
deposition process: the first number specifies � and the second the
annealing temperature, and a letter N signifies treatment in nitrogen.

Figure 2 shows that ATO films deposited at low oxygen content,
specifically 0.17 ≤ � ≤ 0.26, have amorphous structure or poly-
crystalline cassiterite structure with (101) preferential orientation, de-
pending on the annealing process. For � > 0.26, all samples exhibit
polycrystalline structure with several clearly observable characteris-
tic peaks corresponding to the cassiterite structure. The preferential
orientation changes from (101) for samples deposited at 0.17 ≤ �
≤ 0.26 to (110) for samples prepared at � = 0.67. Intermediate val-
ues, for example � = 0.29, result in a (211) preferential orientation,
which corresponds to surface grain orientations between (101) and
(110). Figure 3 shows the intensity ratio of the diffraction peaks, �,
as a function of � for three sets of samples, deposited at � = 0.17,
0.29 and 0.67, before and after the different annealing processes. As
expected � decreases as � is increased, i.e., with the increase of the
oxygen flow, indicating a change in preferential orientation from (101)
to (110) direction. Except for the amorphous samples deposited at �
= 0.17, which crystallize after being annealed at 450◦C in air or N2,
the annealing processes produce only small changes in � and in the
preferential orientation of the films.

A dependency of preferential orientation on oxygen content dur-
ing deposition of tin oxide-based films has been reported previously
in the literature, and the origin of this phenomenon has been the ob-
ject of much discussion during the past years.2,3,6,23,27–29 According to

Figure 2. X-ray diffractograms of selected ATO samples with indicated re-
flection planes. Each curve has a label signifying the pertinent oxygen/argon
gas flow � (first number) and the annealing temperature (second number). A
letter N denotes annealing in nitrogen.

published data on calculated surface energies,8,23,28 the reduced (101)
surface, which is rich in Sn2+atoms, is more stable at low oxygen
chemical potentials, corresponding to samples deposited at low � val-
ues; the situation is reversed at high oxygen chemical potentials, and
high �, where the oxidized (110) surface, which is rich in Sn4+ atoms
is more stable. Therefore the change of the preferred film orientation
in tin oxide can be related to differences in the (101) and (110) surface

Figure 3. Intensity ratio of the diffraction peaks given by � as a function of
� for three sets of samples deposited at � = 0.17, 0.29 and 0.67, before and
after different annealing processes.



ECS Journal of Solid State Science and Technology, 3 (11) N151-N153 (2014) N153

Figure 4. Ionization potential Ip vs. intensity ratio of the diffraction peaks
given by � for ATO films prepared under different conditions. The ionization
potential for an amorphous sample is also shown (bottom right of the figure).
Labels are designated as in Fig. 2.

stabilities and is also accompanied by a transition from Sn2+ to a Sn4+

surface termination (see work of Batzill and Diebold8 and studies
cited therein).

In order to study how a change in the oxidation state affects the
band lineups at the film surface, Ip was measured for the different sam-
ples as explained in Sec. 3, and the obtained data plotted in Figure 4 as
a function of �, i.e., the intensity ratio of the XRD peaks correspond-
ing to the (101) and (110) orientations. Ip for an amorphous sample
has also been included in the graph. Samples deposited at � = 0.67
present (110) preferential orientation (i.e., low �) and Ip values above
9 eV. As � rises, Ip decreases gradually to around 8 eV in samples
deposited at 0.17 ≤ � ≤ 0.26 and exhibiting a (101) preferential orien-
tation or amorphous structure. This variation in Ip by more than 1 eV
supports the hypothesis that a change in the surface oxidation state–
corresponding to an evolution from an oxidized (110) surface rich in
Sn4+ atoms to a reduced (101) surface rich in Sn2+ atoms–can modify
Ip by more than 1 eV as a result of surface dipole modifications.30 The
results plotted in Fig. 4, obtained by electrochemical measurements,
are in agreement with data published by Körber et al. who measured
Ip by ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy.23,28,30

The electrochemical measurements provide information on the
oxidation state of the tin atoms at the film surface. This information
can be complemented by a study of the film’s refractive index n.
Semi-empirical models have pointed out that a high proportion of
Sn2+ atoms, not only in the surface but also inside the tin oxide thin
film, causes a decrease of n.31 Figure 5 shows n at a wavelength of

Figure 5. Refractive index n at 550 nm vs. crystalline orientation given by �

for ATO films prepared under different conditions. Labels are designated as in
Fig. 2.

550 nm, as calculated from the sample transmittance by the well-
established Swanepoel method,32 vs. �. Samples deposited at low �
and exhibiting a (101) preferential orientation show the lowest values,
i.e., highest concentration of Sn2+. However the dependency of n on
� is not as clear as the one observed for Ip, on �, and in the former
case the characteristics of the annealing processes play an important
role. This dependency is expected because parameters such as film
density and porosity affect n in addition to the oxidation state of the
tin atoms.

Conclusions

Sputter deposited SnO2:Sb thin films display a change in their
preferential orientation from the tetragonal (101) to the (110) direc-
tion as the oxygen concentration during the deposition process is in-
creased. This modification in preferential orientation is accompanied
by a change in the oxidation of the surface from a reduced (101) to
an oxidized (110) state, which in its turn is followed by an increase of
the ionization potential by more than 1 eV as measured electrochem-
ically. Such changes of Ip have a large impact on the electrochemical,
photocatalytic and gas sensing behavior of the material. Furthermore
preferential orientation control, and hence Ip tuning, will allow tai-
loring of SnO2:Sb electrodes for various application by reducing the
Schottky barrier.

Acknowledgments

This work has been supported by the Swedish Research Council
and by the European Research Council under the European Com-
munity’s Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC Grant
Agreement No. 267234 (GRINDOOR).

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