Atomic layer deposition of amorphous tin-gallium oxide films

A wide range of applications benefit from transparent semiconducting oxides with tunable electronic properties, for example, electron transport layers in solar cell devices, where the electron affinity is a key parameter. Presently, a few different ternary oxides are used for this purpose, but the attainable electron affinity range is typically limited. In this study, the authors develop a low-temperature atomic layer deposition (ALD) process to grow amorphous Sn1–xGaxOy thin films from dimethylamino-metal complexes and water. This oxide is predicted to provide a wide selection of possible electron affinity values, from around 3 eV for pure Ga2O3 to 4.5 eV for pure SnO2. The ALD process is evaluated for deposition temperatures in the range of 105–195 °C by in situ quartz crystal microbalance and with ex situ film characterization. The growth exhibits an ideal-like behavior at 175 °C, where the film composition can be predicted by a simple rule of mixture. Depending on film composition, the growth per cycle varies in the range of 0.6–0.8 Å at this temperature. Furthermore, the film composition for a given process appears insensitive to the deposition temperature. From material characterization, it is shown that the deposited films are highly resistive, fully amorphous, and homogeneous, with moderate levels of impurities (carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen). By tailoring the metal cation ratio in films grown at 175 °C, the optical bandgap can be varied in the range from 2.7 eV for SnO2 to above 4.2 eV for Ga2O3. The bandgap also varies significantly as a function of deposition temperature. This control of properties indicates that Sn1–xGaxOy is a promising candidate for an electron transport layer material in a wide electron affinity range.