Effect of precursor Pre-Treatment of tin monosulfide thin film using atomic layer deposition

Abstract

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, with their continuously emerging novel properties, have been widely studied for applications in various fields, including semiconductor devices. In this study, we investigated tin monosulfide (SnS), a 2D material with excellent optical and chemical properties. SnS thin films were deposited using atomic layer deposition (ALD), an essential process for achieving the scaling-down demands of the semiconductor industry. However, ALD requires long processing times to achieve the target thickness, leading to productivity issues. To address this challenge, we introduced a precursor pre-treatment process into ALD. The substrate conditions before and after pre-treatment were analyzed using water contact angle (WCA) measurements and Xray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Additionally, the effects of precursor pre-treatment on the SnS thin film properties were examined using X-ray reflectometry (XRR), atomic force microscopy (AFM), grazing incidence Xray diffraction (GI-XRD), Raman spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), XPS, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy (UV-vis), ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS), and Hall effect measurements. The precursor pre-treated SnS thin films exhibited a significantly enhanced growth rate and improved material properties.