The Effect of Discharge Power on the Atmospheric Pressure Non-equilibrium Ar/O2/TiCl4 Plasma Deposition of TiO2 Film

Deposition of TiO2 film from atmospheric pressure non-equilibrium Ar/O2/TiCl4 plasma was done to study the effect of discharge power during the film deposition process in this paper. TiO2 films with kinds of morphologies and controlled crystallization were deposited from mixtures of TiCl4 and O2 on quartz substrate by one step process. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM) were used to analyze the morphology and crystallization of the deposited TiO2 films. It was found that the discharge power played a key role in the morphology and crystallization of the deposited TiO2 film whether the flow of TiCl4 was large or small. When the flow of TiCl4 was large, the deposited TiO2 film was amorphous particles at low discharge power and was multi-crystalline at high discharge power. When the flow of TiCl4 [JP2]was small, the deposited TiO2 film became more compact and the crystallization was enhanced as the discharge power increased . The dependence of the discharge current and the applied voltage with the discharge power indicated that it was a glow discharge. The gas temperature which increases with the discharge power is one of the main causes that affect the morphology and crystallization of the deposited film.