PREPARATION OF ALVO4-FILMS FOR SENSOR APPLICATION VIA A SOL-GEL SPIN-COATING TECHNIQUE/

The preparation of thin AlVO4 films on corundum substrates for possibl e sensor application is described. Thermally stable, crack-free thin f ilms having thicknesses typically below 0.1 mu m were obtained by a so l-gel process using alkoxide reagents combined with a spin-coating tec hnique. The films were structurally characterized by XRD, Raman and FT IR spectroscopy and their morphology was analyzed by SEM. XRD showed t hat the films consisted almost exclusively (> 90%) of AlVO4 after calc ination at 923 K. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science S.A.