Sn films of four thicknesses, 50, 200, 500, and 1000 nm, were deposited on Si (111) substrates by a thermal evaporation technique, and the effects of thickness on the structural, surface morphology, electrical, and wettability properties were investigated. X-ray diffraction studies revealed the coexistence of predominantly β-Sn (metallic phase) and small concentration of α-Sn (semiconducting phase) in all samples except the 1000 nm thickness sample which is entirely β-Sn. The crystallite size and surface roughness enhance with thickness, and the 1000 nm film shows secondary nucleation growth which lowers the average crystallite size and the surface roughness of the sample. The 50 nm film shows semiconducting electrical properties while all other samples are metallic. The wettability studies found that Sn films are hydrophobic with a maximum water contact angle of 128° for the 1000 nm sample. It is concluded that the thickness critically determines the phase formation, surface topography, electrical properties, and hydrophobic properties of Sn films.

中文翻译：

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厚度对锡薄膜的润湿性和电性能的影响

通过热蒸发技术将四种厚度分别为50、200、500和1000 nm的Sn膜沉积在Si（111）衬底上，并研究了厚度对结构，表面形态，电学和润湿性的影响。X射线衍射研究表明，除1000 nm厚度的样品完全为β-Sn外，所有样品中主要存在β-Sn（金属相）和少量α-Sn（半导体相）并存。微晶尺寸和表面粗糙度随厚度增加，并且1000 nm膜显示二次成核生长，这降低了平均微晶尺寸和样品的表面粗糙度。50 nm膜显示出半导体电性能，而所有其他样品均为金属。润湿性研究发现，对于1000 nm样品，Sn膜具有疏水性，最大水接触角为128°。结论是厚度决定了锡膜的相形成，表面形貌，电性能和疏水性能。