Authors
Abstract
Nanocrystalline tin oxide (SnO2) thin films were fabricated using pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. The as-deposited films were irradiated at liquid nitrogen (LN2) temperature using 100 MeV Ag ions at different fluences ranging from 3×10 13 to 3×1014 ions/cm 2 and at 75o with respect to surface normal. Pristine and irradiated samples were characterized using XRD, AFM, Raman and I-V (current-voltage characteristics) for the study of modifications in structural, surface morphological, bond angle and resistivity respectively. XRD patterns show that the pristine film is highly polycrystalline and irradiation amorphizes the film systematically with increasing the irradiation fluence. The surface of the pristine film contains nanograins of tin oxide with roughness 5.2 nm. Upon irradiation at lower fluences agglomeration is seen and roughness increased to 10.8 nm. Highest fluence irradiation again develops nanograins with roughness 7.5 nm. Raman spectra and I-V characteristics also confirms the irradiation induced amorphization. The observed results are explained in the frame work of thermal spike model.
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