Microscopic and chemical analysis of room temperature UV laser annealing of solution-based zinc-tin-oxide thin films

As a promising transparent semiconducting oxide (TSO) candidate, zinc-tin-oxide (ZTO) thin films were fabricated by combining solution coating and ultraviolet (UV) laser annealing. Instead of external heating, an intense UV laser was applied to transform sol-gel coatings via surface heating and photoexcited dissociation into oxide films. The laser-induced phase transformation was extensively investigated with synchrotron-based X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS). The chemical states and microscopic distributions of oxygen, zinc, and tin were significantly modified during the laser irradiation. Relative oxidation and surface migration between zinc and tin gradually evolved toward a combination of ZnO1−x host and SnO2−y grains. Our results present deeper insight into the use of UV laser annealing for developing a room temperature (RT) fabrication method of TSO thin films and other relevant solution coatings.