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.