Effect of deep UV laser treatment on silicon-doped Tin oxide thin film

In this paper, the effect of deep ultraviolet (UV) laser on physical and electrical properties of amorphous Silicon-doped tin oxide (amorphous Si-Sn-O, a-STO) thin films were studied. Surface morphology, thickness, crystallinity, and optical band gap of a-STO thin films treated by laser were investigated. Results showed that the decrease of thickness and surface roughness of a-STO thin films after deep UV laser treatment, and the films maintained an amorphous structure, which implied that the quality of a-STO thin films were improved. The peak position of oxygen vacancy binding energy became lower; this is caused by an increase in oxygen vacancies resulting in a decrease in coordination number. And the oxygen vacancy content of the a-STO thin films was increased after deep UV laser treatment. In addition, the optical band gap of a-STO films was broaden after the deep UV laser treatment. It exploits a new application of deep UV laser in oxide semiconductor.