The growth of tin oxide films at room temperature

This report outlines the growth of highly transparent films of undoped tin oxide at near ambient temperatures (∼30 °C). Films were deposited by a technique based on the reaction of rf plasma-activated oxygen with tetramethyltin. Growth rates as high as 160 Å/min have been achieved with a 100-μm partial pressure of tetramethyltin and an overall system pressure of 500 μm. The growth kinetics have been explained by a model in which the tetramethyltin is the rate limiter, and the concentration of active oxygen is independent of the flow rate of molecular oxygen.