Effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the structural and electrical properties of sputter-deposited SnO2 thin films

In this paper, we report the effects of hydrogen plasma treatment on the structural and electrical properties of SnO2 thin films prepared by the sputtering method. Whereas the hydrogen plasma treatment led to etching of SnO2 films and subsequent degradation of crystalline quality and optical transmittance, the plasma-treated films exhibited an improvement in the electrical conductivity. Hall measurements indicated an increase in the carrier concentration of SnO2 films which, following x-ray diffraction and secondary ion mass spectrometry measurements, was attributed to the generation of oxygen vacancies rather than the incorporation of hydrogen shallow donors in undoped SnO2 films.