Atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition of titanium dioxide films from TiCl4

We report a low temperature atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition technique to deposit titanium oxide films on silicon wafers. The growth is achieved by using TiCl.H2O2 and O-2 at temperatures ranging from 140 to 280 degreesC. Addition of H2O2 yields a significant reduction in the surface roughness with an enhanced deposition rate at temperatures as low as 170degreesC. Growth at temperatures below 140degreesC results in insignificant growth whereas at high temperatures a hazy and three-dimensional growth is observed. Using this technique a growth rate as high as 0.5 mum/h can be obtained with little roughness on the surface of the substrate. XRD, SEM, and FTIR analyses have been exploited to study the physical behavior of the layers. The electrical characterization of the films reveals a relative permittivity (epsilon(r)) of 19-21 for the samples prepared with H2O2. A breakdown field of 1 x 10(7) V/cm is also obtained. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.