J. Szuber

XPS study of the L-CVD deposited SnO2 thin films exposed to oxygen and hydrogen

In this paper, the XPS study of SnO2 thin films deposited by the L-CVD technique are presented. The influence of exposition of the as-deposited samples to oxygen O2 and hydrogen H2 on their stoichiometry was determined. Moreover, on the basis of detailed shape analysis of the Sn3d5/2 and O1s XPS peaks, the chemical shift of binding energy corresponding to the change of sample stoichiometry was separated from a shift of the binding energy corresponding to the change of interface Fermi level position EF–Ev in the band gap, using a new procedure of deconvolution of the core level XPS peaks. The shift of the Sn3d5/2 peak by approximately 0.5 eV towards the lower binding energy after highest H2 exposure was interpreted as a true chemical shift due to an increase of Sn2+ component, whereas the shift of Sn3d5/2 peak and O1s peak after highest O2 exposure by approximately 0.5 eV towards the lower binding energy was interpreted as a result of the shift of the interface Fermi level position in the band gap towards the top of valence band at the surface, which corresponds to a deep accumulation layer typical for SnO2 thin films.

The comparative XPS and PYS studies of SnO2 thin films prepared by L-CVD technique and exposed to oxygen and hydrogen

Abstract The electronic properties of the space charge layer of the tin dioxide thin films, prepared by the laser-induced chemical vapour deposition (L-CVD), have been studied using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and photoemission yield spectroscopy (PYS). Based on the analysis of Sn3d 5/2 XPS peak, the influence of exposition to molecular oxygen O 2 and hydrogen H 2 on the stoichiometry of the L-CVD deposited SnO 2 thin films, as well as the interface Fermi level position in the band gap, have been determined and compared to the variation of the work function determined from the threshold of the ex situ recorded photoemission yield spectra. The observed changes of the interface Fermi level position and the work function upon adsorption/desorption of O 2 and H 2 were attributed to decrease/increase of the concentration of oxygen vacancies in the near surface region.

On the correlation between morphology and electronic properties of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films

Abstract The morphology of vacuum deposited copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) thin films surface deposited on Si(111) have been studied using the contact mode Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). The influence of substrate temperature during deposition and of the post-deposition UHV annealing on surface roughness as well as on the average and maximum grain height was determined. The observed changes of surface morphology were in a good correlation with the shift of surface Fermi level position in the band gap after O 2 exposure determined in our recent photoemission studies.

Surface chemistry of SnO2 nanowires on Ag-catalyst-covered Si substrate studied using XPS and TDS methods

In this paper we investigate the surface chemistry, including surface contaminations, of SnO2 nanowires deposited on Ag-covered Si substrate by vapor phase deposition (VPD), thanks to x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) in combination with thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS). Air-exposed SnO2 nanowires are slightly non-stoichiometric, and a huge amount of C contaminations is observed at their surface. After the thermal physical desorption (TPD) process, SnO2 nanowires become almost stoichiometric without any surface C contaminations. This is probably related to the fact that C contaminations, as well as residual gases from air, are weakly bounded to the crystalline SnO2 nanowires and can be easily removed from their surface. The obtained results gave us insight on the interpretation of the aging effect of SnO2 nanowires that is of great importance for their potential application in the development of novel chemical nanosensor devices.

XPS, TDS, and AFM studies of surface chemistry and morphology of Ag-covered L-CVD SnO2 nanolayers

This is well known that the selectivity and sensitivity of tin dioxide (SnO2) thin film sensors for the detection of low concentration of volatile sulfides such as H2S in air can be improved by small amount of Ag additives. In this paper we present the results of comparative X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS), and atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies of the surface chemistry and morphology of SnO2 nanolayers obtained by laser-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (L-CVD) additionally covered with 1 monolayer (ML) of Ag. For as deposited SnO2 nanolayers, a mixture of tin oxide (SnO) and tin dioxide (SnO2) with the [C]/[Sn] ratio of approximately 1.3 was observed. After dry air exposure, the [O]/[Sn] ratio slightly increased to approximately 1.55. Moreover, an evident increasing of C contamination was observed with [C]/[Sn] ratio of approximately 3.5. After TDS experiment, the [O]/[Sn] ratio goes back to 1.3, whereas C contamination evidently decreases (by factor of 3). Simultaneously, the Ag concentration after air exposure and TDS experiment subsequently decreased (finally by factor of approximately 2), which was caused by the diffusion of Ag atoms into the subsurface layers related to the grain-type surface morphology of Ag-covered L-CVD SnO2 nanolayers, as confirmed by XPS ion depth profiling studies. The variation of surface chemistry of the Ag-covered L-CVD SnO2 after air exposure observed by XPS was in a good correlation with the desorption of residual gases from these nanolayers observed in TDS experiments.

Surface Properties of Nanostructured, Porous ZnO Thin Films Prepared by Direct Current Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

In this paper, the results of detailed X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies combined with atomic force microscopy (AFM) investigation concerning the local surface chemistry and morphology of nanostructured ZnO thin films are presented. They have been deposited by direct current (DC) reactive magnetron sputtering under variable absolute Ar/O2 flows (in sccm): 3:0.3; 8:0.8; 10:1; 15:1.5; 20:2, and 30:3, respectively. The XPS studies allowed us to obtain the information on: (1) the relative concentrations of main elements related to their surface nonstoichiometry; (2) the existence of undesired C surface contaminations; and (3) the various forms of surface bondings. It was found that only for the nanostructured ZnO thin films, deposited under extremely different conditions, i.e., for Ar/O2 flow ratio equal to 3:0.3 and 30:3 (in sccm), respectively, an evident and the most pronounced difference had been observed. The same was for the case of AFM experiments. What is crucial, our experiments allowed us to find the correlation mainly between the lowest level of C contaminations and the local surface morphology of nanostructured ZnO thin films obtained at the highest Ar/O2 ratio (30:3), for which the densely packaged (agglomerated) nanograins were observed, yielding a smaller surface area for undesired C adsorption. The obtained information can help in understanding the reason of still rather poor gas sensor characteristics of ZnO based nanostructures including the undesired ageing effect, being of a serious barrier for their potential application in the development of novel gas sensor devices.

Pure and highly Nb-doped titanium dioxide nanotubular arrays: Characterization of local surface properties

This paper presents the results of studies of the local surface properties of pure and highly Nb-doped (12 wt %) TiO2 nanotubes (TNT) using the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods, respectively. XPS analysis showed that the pure TNT exhibit an evident over-stoichiometry combined with high level of undesired C contaminations, which was confirmed by the relative concentration of specific elements O, Ti and C (with respect to all the surface atoms) equal to 0.46, 018 and 0.36, respectively. In turn, for the highly Nb-doped (12 wt %) TNT, a slightly different surface chemistry was observed because the relative concentration of specific elements O and Ti and, with respect to all the surface atoms, is slightly lower, that is, 0.42 and 0.12, respectively; this is directly related to the fact that Nb atoms appeared having the relative concentration at the level of 0.09, whereas the undesired C contaminations reached the same level (0.36), as is the case of pure TNT. In addition, SEM analysis confirms that there are evident free spaces between the specific slops containing several TNT, what was additionally confirmed by the contribution of specific surface bonding coming from the SiO2/Si substrate. The obtained information allowed us a new insight on the potential origin of aging effect at the surface of TNT in atmosphere being the undesired limitation for their potential application as the chemical resistive type sensors or in any other fields of their application related to their surface activity.

Influence of Nitrogen Implantation on Electrical Properties of Al/SiO2/4H-SiC MOS Structure

In this article, an influence of nitrogen implantation dosage on SiC MOS structure is analyzed using wide range of nitrogen implantation dose (between ~1013 – 1016). Authors analyzed electrical and material properties of investigated samples using C-V, I-V measurements, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS profiling. It has been shown that surface state trap density is directly connected to implantation damage and thus implantation conditions. Using research results a trap origin at given energy can be concluded.