Low temperature atomic layer deposition of titania thin films

This paper presents a comprehensive study of atomic layer deposition of TiO2 films on silicon and polycarbonate substrates using TiCl4 and H2O as precursors at temperatures in the range 80-120 oC. An in-situ quartz crystal microbalance was used to monitor different processing conditions and the resultant films were characterised ex-situ using a suite of surface analytical tools. In addition, the contact angle and wettability of as-deposited and UV irradiated films were assessed. The latter was found to reduce the contact angle from ≥ 80o to < 10o. Finally, the effect of surface pre-treatment on film toughness and adhesion was investigated and the results show a significant improvement for the pre-treated films.