ION-BEAM-INDUCED CHEMICAL-VAPOR-DEPOSITION PROCEDURE FOR THE PREPARATION OF OXIDE THIN-FILMS .1. PREPARATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF TIO2 THIN-FILMS

A new method of preparation of oxide thin films is presented in this p aper. The method consists of the bombardment of a substrate with accel erated O2+ species while a flow of a volatile organometallic precursor is directed on its surface. This ion beam induced chemical vapor depo sition procedure (IBICVD) has been used to prepare TiO2 thin films fro m Ti(CH3CH2O)4 as a precursor. Also, for comparison, TiO2 thin films h ave been grown by a plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (CVD) me thod. A study of the growing process has been carried out by x-ray pho toelectron spectroscopy (XPS), while the films have been characterized by XPS, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron spectrosc opy, and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. Values of the refraction in dex of the TiO2 films prepared by IBICVD are similar to those of other TiO2 prepared by ion beam assisted methods as given in the literature , but superior to those of the films grown in the present study by pla sma assisted CVD.