Proceedings of the ASME 2013 International Mechanical Engineering Congress & Exposition IMECE2013 November 15-21, 2013, San Diego, California, USA IMECE2013-65136 1 CHARACTERIZATION OF METAL OXIDE SENSOR THIN FILMS DEPOSITED BY SPRAY PYROLYSIS S. M. Navid Khatami University of Central Florida Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Orlando, FL 32816 nkhatami@ucf.edu D. Nadun Kuruppumullage University of Central Florida Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Orlando, FL 32816 nadunsk@knights.ucf.edu Olusegun J. Ilegbusi University of Central Florida Department of Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering, Orlando, FL 32816 ilegbusi@ucf.edu ABSTRACT Chemical Spray Pyrolysis (CSP) of ZnO and SnO 2 is of interest for gas sensor applications. The structural properties of the deposited film can be strongly influenced by deposition conditions. In this work, two solutions consisting of Tin Chloride and Zinc Chloride was sprayed on a heated substrate, where temperature was varied from 400º C to 450º C for ZnO, and from 350º C to 500º C for SnO 2 . X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, indicating a non-homogenous- structured film formed at low temperature for both oxides. At 450º C, a porous structure is observed for SnO2. This structure becomes homogenous at higher temperature. It was also found that at temperatures lower than 450º C, substrate temperature has significant impact on the composition of the synthesized films. Keywords: Thin films, Spray pyrolysis, SnO 2 , ZnO, Structure INTRODUCTION Metal oxide film microstructure has significant effect on film property, which in turn is determined largely by the synthesis [1]. Different techniques are used to synthesize such films including spray pyrolysis [2], sol-gel technique [3], and chemical vapor deposition (CVD) [4]. Chemical Spray Pyrolysis (CSP) technique is used in this study to synthesize SnO 2 and ZnO thin films due to its inherent advantages, such as ease of control, low cost, and simplicity [5-9]. One of the main parameters controlling the structure of film synthesis is the temperature on the substrate [2]. There are several studies on the effect of substrate temperature on the structure of synthesized film for different metal oxide films [10, 11]. However it will be helpful to see the variation of the temperature on