Effect of balanced and unbalanced magnetron sputtering processes on the properties of SnO2 thin films

A comparative study has been carried on the role of balanced magnetron (BM) and unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering processes on the properties of SnO₂ thin films. The oxygen partial pressure, substrate temperature and deposition pressure were kept 20%, 700 °C and 30 mTorr, respectively and the applied RF power varied in the range of 150–250 W. It is observed that the UBM deposition causes significant effect on the structural, electrical and optical properties of SnO₂ thin films than BM as evidenced by X-ray diffraction, C-V, Spectroscopic Ellipsometer and Photoluminescence measurements. The value of band gap (E_g) of the films deposited at 150 W in UBM is found as E_g = 3.83 eV which is much higher than the value of E_g = 3.69 eV as observed in BM sputtering indicating that UBM sputtering results in good crystalline quality. Further, the C-V measurements of SnO₂ thin films deposited using UBM at high power 250 W show hysteresis with large flat band shift indicating that these thin films can be used for the fabrication of memory device. The observed results have been attributed to different mechanisms which exist simultaneously under unbalanced magnetron sputtering due to ion bombardment of growing SnO₂ thin film by energetic Ar+ ions.