Thin films of indium oxide grown on quartz substrates were subjected to 100 MeV Ag 9+ and O 7+ ions irradiation. The pristine and swift heavy ions irradiated films were characterized using X-ray Diffraction, Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry, Scanning Electron Microscopy and UV-Vis Spectroscopy to examine the effect of irradiation with ions having large difference in the values of electronic energy loss (Se) on the structural, microstructural and optical properties of indium oxide thin films. XRD and SEM studies revealed deterioration in crystallinity along with decrease in both crystallite size and grain size upon irradiation with both Ag 9+ and O 7+ ions. However, the decrease in the crystallite size and grain size in comparison to the pristine film was more radical for irradiation with Ag 9+ ions. RBS spectra suggest that the electronic sputtering in the indium oxide films due to SHI irradiation is very less. AFM images illustrate the decrease in surface roughness from 29.8 nm for the pristine film to to 27.4 nm and 26.7 nm on irradiation with 100 MeV O 7+ and Ag 9+ ions at a fluence of 3.3×10 13 ions/cm 2 . Also, UV-Vis study revealed an increment in the value of optical band gap from 3.41 eV for the pristine film to 3.53 and 3.67 eV for indium oxide films irradiated with of 3.3×10 13 ions/cm 2 fluence of O 7+ and Ag 9+ ions respectively. The irradiation induced structural and optical modifications have been explained using the Thermal spike model. Along with the structural and optical properties, sensing properties of the pristine and irradiated films for 100 ppm methane gas at an operating temperature of 300 o C have also been examined and the results have been correlated with the induced structural modifications.

Two sets of indium oxide thin films (similar to 150nm) grown on quartz substrates using thermal evaporation technique were processed separately with 25-keV Co- and N+ ions with several fluences ranging from 1.0x10(15) to 1.0x10(16) ions/cm(2). The pristine and the ion implanted films were characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectroscopy (RBS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and UV-Vis spectrometry. The RBS spectra reveal signature of only cobalt and nitrogen in accordance to their fluences confirming absence of any contamination arising due to ion implantation. An increase in the average crystallite size (from 13.7 to 15.3nm) of Co- ions implanted films was confirmed by XRD. On the other hand, the films implanted with N+ ions showed a decrease in the average crystallite size from 20.1 to 13.7nm. The XRD results were further verified by SEM micrographs. As seen in AFM images, the RMS surface roughness of the samples processed by both ion beams was found to decrease a bit (29.4 to 22.2nm in Co- implanted samples and 24.2 to 23.3nm in N+ implanted samples) with increasing fluence. The Tauc's plot deduced from UV-visible spectroscopy showed that the band gap decreases from 3.54 to 3.27eV in Co- implanted films and increases from 3.38 to 3.58eV for films implanted with N+ ions. The experimental results suggest that the modifications in structural and optical properties of indium oxide films can be controlled by optimizing the implantation conditions. Copyright (c) 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We report here synthesis and subsequent nitrogen ion implantation of indium oxide (In2O3) thin films. The films were implanted with 25keV N+ beam for different ion doses between 3E15 to 1E16 ions/cm(2). The resulting changes in structural and optical properties were investigated using XRD, SEM-EDAX and UV-Vis Spectrometry. XRD studies reveal decrease in crystallite size from 20.06 to 12.42 nm with increase in ion dose. SEM micrographs show an increase in the grain size from 0.8 to 1.35 mu m with increase in ion dose because of the agglomeration of the grains. Also, from EDAX data on pristine and N-implanted thin films the presence of indium and oxygen without any traces of impurity elements could be seen. However, at lower ion doses such as 3E15 and 5E15 ions/cm(2), no evidence of the presence of nitrogen ion was seen. However, for the ion dose of 1E16 ions/cm(2), evidence of presence of nitrogen can be seen in the EDAX data. Band gap calculations reveal a decrease in band gap from 3.54 to 3.38eV with increasing ion dose. However, the band gap was found to again show an increase to 3.58eV at the highest ion dose owing to quantum confinement effect.

Tin oxide (SnO) thin films were synthesized using thermal evaporation technique. Ultra pure metallic tin was deposited on glass substrates using thermal evaporator under high vacuum. The thickness of the tin deposited films was kept at 100nm. Subsequently, the as-deposited tin films were annealed under oxygen environment for a period of 3hrs to obtain tin oxide films. To analyse the suitability of the synthesized tin oxide films as a wide band gap semiconductor, various properties were studied. Structural parameters were studied using XRD and SEM-EDX. The optical properties were studied using UV-Vis Spectrophotometry and the electrical parameters were calculated using the Hall-setup. XRD and SEM confirmed the formation of SnO phase. Uniform texture of the film can be seen through the SEM images. Presence of traces of unoxidised Sn has also been confirmed through the XRD spectra. The band gap calculated was around 3.6eV and the optical transparency around 50%. The higher value of band gap and lower value of optical transparency can be attributed to the presence of unoxidised Sn. The values of resistivity and mobility as measured by the Hall setup were 78 Omega cm and 2.92cm(2)/Vs respectively. The reasonable optical and electrical parameters make SnO a suitable candidate for optoelectronic and electronic device applications.

Present work focuses on the effect of swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation of 50MeV Li3+ ions by varying the fluencies in the range of 1x10(12) to 5x10(13) ions/cm(2) on the morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties of amorphousSe(95)Zn(5) thin films. Thin films of similar to 250nm thickness were deposited on cleaned glass substrates by thermal evaporation technique. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis shows the pristine thin film ofSe(95)Zn(5)growsin hexagonal phase structure. Also it was found that the small peak observed in XRD spectra vanishes after SHI irradiation indicates the defects of the material increases. The optical parameters: absorption coefficient (alpha), extinction coefficient (K), refractive index (n) optical band gap (E-g) and Urbach's energy (E-U) are determined from optical absorption spectra data measured from spectrophotometry in the wavelength range 200-1000nm. It was found that the values of absorption coefficient, refractive index and extinction coefficient increases while the value optical band gap decreases with the increase of ion fluence. This post irradiation change in the optical parameters was interpreted in terms of bond distribution model. Electrical properties such as dc conductivity and temperature dependent photoconductivity of investigated thin films were carried out in the temperature range 309-370 K. Analysis of data shows activation energy of dark current is greater as compared to activation energy photocurrent. The value of activation energy decreases with the increase of ion fluence indicates that the defect density of states increases. Also it was found that the value of dc conductivity and photoconductivity increases with the increase of ion fluence.

The synthesis of tin oxide films on glass substrates was carried out using a two-step procedure which involved the deposition of pure metallic tin films on glass substrates using the thermal evaporation technique and the oxidation of the as-prepared tin films at temperatures of 300, 400 and 500 degrees C. The effect of oxidation temperature on the structural, optical and electrical properties was investigated. The X-ray diffraction studies showed that the crystallinity of tin oxide films improved with increase in oxidation temperature with preferential growth along (110) plane. Increase in transmittance and band gap (2.95 eV to 3.23 eV) was observed with increase in oxidation temperature. Hall measurements revealed that the films showed n-type semiconducting behavior and the resistivity of the films increased as the oxidation temperature was increased from 300 degrees C to 500 degrees C.