Growth and characterization of well-aligned densely-packed rutile TiO2 nanocrystals on sapphire substrates via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition

Well-aligned densely-packed rutile TiO2 nanocrystals (NCs) have been grown on sapphire (SA) (100) and (012) substrates via metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD), using titanium-tetraisopropoxide (TTIP, Ti(OC3H7)(4)) as a source reagent. The surface morphology as well as structural and spectroscopic properties of the as-deposited NCs were characterized using field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), selected-area electron diffractometry (SAED), x-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro-Raman spectroscopy. FESEM micrographs reveal that vertically aligned NCs were grown on SA(100), whereas the NCs on the SA(012) were grown with a tilt angle of similar to 33 degrees from the normal to substrates. TEM and SAED measurements showed that the TiO2 NCs on SA(100) with square cross section have their long axis directed along the [001] direction. The XRD results reveal TiO2 NCs with either (002) orientation on SA(100) substrate or (101) orientation on SA(012) substrate. A strong substrate effect on the alignment of the growth of TiO2 NCs has been demonstrated and the probable mechanism for the formation of these NCs has been discussed.