Characterization of TiOx film prepared by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using a multi-jet hollow cathode plasma source

The high rate deposition of TiOx film at low temperature was achieved by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) using titanium tetraisopropoxide (TTIP) as a source material. The multi-jet hollow cathode plasma source was used to generate the high-density plasma, which was showered toward the substrate. The emission spectra suggest that oxygen radicals play an important role for dissociation of the source material and for yielding the precursors. The high deposition rate up to 50 nm/min was achieved by this process. The as-deposited films are completely amorphous. They consist of structures with complex bondings including both tetrahedral and octahedral components. Though they have such complex bondings, the hydrophilicity of the PECVD film is excellent comparing to that of the annealed crystalline anatase structure. It seems that the PECVD using the multi-jet plasma source is promising for fabrication of hydrophilic TiOx films in low-temperature process.