Pulsed Laser Ablation for Tin Dioxide: Nucleation, Growth, and Microstructures

Abstract Pulsed-laser ablation approaches are being developed for the growth of oxide thin films as versatile platform for advanced applications. Semiconducting SnO 2 thin film is of fundamental importance in the advancement of microdevices. In this review, SnO 2 thin films of various microstructures have been made using the pulsed-laser deposition method. The microstructural aspects include tetragonal, porous, and orthorhombic structure characteristics. The quantum-dots and dynamic simulations of SnO 2 nanocrystals have blossomed into a submonolayer regime devoted to the nucleation and growth for these functional films. SnO 2 thin films with some of the microstructural features may have great implications for the development of novel prototype gas sensors and transparent conduction electrodes. Keywords: SnO2 thin filmsNanocrystalsPulsed-laser depositionNucleationGrowthMicrostructure ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The work described in this article was supported by a grant from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China (Project Numbers CityU 1025/05P and CityU 1024/07). This work also was financially supported by the state key program of National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Number 40830744).