Materials Research Bulletin, Vol.29, No.5, 537-543, 1994
In-Situ High-Temperature X-Ray-Diffraction Studies of Antimony-Doped Tin Oxide Thin-Films Formed by Metalloorganic Decomposition
Thin films of antimony-doped SnO2 coated on stainless steel were fabricated by metallo-organic decomposition (MOD) techniques. A novel method for thermal fabrication of SnO2 type films utilizing in situ high-temperature x-ray diffraction (HTXRD) found crystallization onset occurred between 400 and 500-degrees-C. Processing at fixed temperatures of 500, 700, and 900-degrees-C provided a high degree of crystallization after approximately 2 hr. The resulting crystallites after 6 hr of heating ranged in size from 36 angstrom at 500-degrees-C to 205 angstrom at 900-degrees-C. It has been observed that prolonged thermal processing of these samples leads to oxidation of the stainless steel substrate.