Deposition mechanism and structural characterization of TiO2 films produced using ESAVD method

As a promising simple and cost-effective deposition technique, electrostatic spray assisted vapor deposition (ESAVD) involves the generation and charging of droplets which are then delivered into a heated zone where they undergo the decomposition and/or chemical reactions in the vapor phase. This papers reports the effect of amorphous and polycrystalline substrate on the growth of TiO2 films. The effect of temperature, the key process parameters on the deposition of TiO2 films has been studied systematically. The deposition and influence of temperature on the grain growth will be presented. The deposited TiO2 films were characterized using a combination of XRD, SEM and AFM techniques. Based on the experimental results, a droplet model is used to elucidate the effect of temperature on deposition mechanism. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.