IEEE NANO 2015

15th INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NANOTECHNOLOGY

27 - 30 JULY 2015 | ROME (ITALY)

Investigation on band gap energy and effect

of various surface plasma treatments on
nano structured SnO2 semiconductor
Akhil Chandran M.K 1 , Harinarayanan.Puliyalil 3,4 , Gregor Filipič 3,4 , Uros Cvelbar 4 , Vladimir Srdic 2 , and Goran Stojanović 1
1
Department for Electronics, Faculty of Technical Sciences, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
2
Department of Materials Engineering, Faculty of Technology, University of Novi Sad, Serbia
3
Jozef Stefan International Postgraduate School, Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
4
Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova cesta 39, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Abstract
For any semiconducting metal oxides, dielectric properties of nanomaterial play an important role, which determines various activities such as sensing, catalytic activity, adsorption,
etc. These properties depend on the chemical composition, method of synthesis and surface characteristics. Various physical and chemical properties of nanomaterials can be
tuned by choosing various chemical treatments or novel synthetic routes. Among various metal oxide semiconductors, SnO2 is extensively used for gas sensing applications.
Surface plasma treatment is one of the advanced techniques used for improving the sensing properties of SnO2. Surface modification can be done by treating with high energy
reactive species in plasma by collision and chemical reaction. We discuss how impregnation of foreign atoms changes the band gap energy of SnO2 thick films, which is an
imperative for any semiconducting material. Chemically synthesized SnO2 thick film was treated with plasma gases and using different plasma parameters. The performances
variations were measured by using different characterization techniques including SEM, TEM, Raman, UV-VIS spectroscopy, etc.

Introduction
Nanostructured metal oxide (MO) semi-conductor has attracted interest of scientific community, because of its wide range of electrical, optical and mechanical properties and
diverse application such as sensing and catalytic applications. Thick films and thin films of MO have found various sensing application. SnO2 is intrinsic n-type semiconducting
material with band gap energy around 3.2 eV. Moreover, SnO2 has been exploited in scientific research widely, especially for gas sensing application, because of its uniqueness
and a wide range of properties. Selectivity, sensitivity and stability are the main qualities needed for gas sensors. There are different approaches available to enhance their
properties. Doping, increasing specific surface area and implementation of porosity in thick films are commonly applying approaches for tuning material properties. Vacancy
plays a crucial role in the properties of MO surface. Modification of MOs surface is one of the key factors to enhance its gas sensing properties. Surface plasma treatment is one
of promising and advanced method for tuning properties of MOs and polymer materials, by doping a foreign atom to the metal oxide surface. SnO2 surface can be modified
using various gas plasma. We discuss treating the SnO2 surface with various gas plasma including different RF plasma power parameters and different treatment time. The
influence of NH3 plasma surface treatment on a change in band gap energy of SnO2 thick film is also described.

Experimental Section Results and Discussion

Synthesis of SnO2 Nano-powder Synthesis
of SnO2 nano-powder has been done
by co-precipitation method. Treating
SnCl2 anhydrous with absolute ethanol
at 60 °C and with continues stirring
has been performed. The procedure
follows by adding 0.01M NaOH solution
in dropwise to the previously prepared
sol and PH value kept at 10. Obtained
powder collected in a centrifuge tube
continued washing by using water and Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4.
ethanol. After an overnight drying at 70 X-ray-Diffraction Spectra of Raman spectroscopic spectra of TEM and SEM images of SnO2 powder.
SnO2 thick film SnO2 powder and thick-film Calcination temperature was 550° C
°C and calcination at 550°C the obtained
SnO2 powder was grinded in a mortar to
destroy small agglomerations. SnO2 paste
were prepared by using ethyl cellulose
Calculation of band-gap energy of UV-VIS spectroscopy
and terpineol as a binding mixture and
coated on α-alumina substrate. The
sintering process has been completed at
550 °C for 3 hours.

Figure 5. Figure 6. Figure 7.

X-ray-Diffraction Sp Calculated band Calculated band gap value of nitrogen surface Calculated band gap value of nitrogen
gap energy of SnO2 film plasma treated SnO2 thick film, surface plasma treated SnO2 thick film,
plasma treatment time 10 seconds plasma treatment time 30 seconds

Figure 1.
Experimental setup for plasma reactor
and measurement system
Conclusion
• SnO2 nano-powder successfully synthesized and deposited on alumina substrate
• Crystallinity and phase formation of SnO2 powder is confirmed by XRD and Raman spectroscopic analysis
• Surface plasma treatment of SnO2 thick films were done at plasma discharging power 10W and different treatment time 10 and 30 seconds
• Plasma treated samples and non-treated samples were exposed to UV-VIS analysis and calculated band-gap energy from UV spectra
• Band-gap energy of SnO2 thick film were decreasing gradually with increasing Nitrogen plasma treatment time

Acknowledgement
This work was financially supported by European Commission in the framework of the FP7 project SENSEIVER, grant number 289481.