THE ROLE AND INTERACTIONS OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON THE NATURE OF ALKOXIDE-DERIVED SOL-GEL FILMS

Dip-coated TiO2 sol-gel films have been used as a representative syste m to investigate the effects of and interactions between, the principa l parameters for the sol-gel process. The studies have been carried ou t on various aspects of the optical, structural and electrical nature of the films, using the statistical analysis technique, factorial expe rimental design (FED), where appropriate. The work has identified the existence of highly significant interactions between process parameter s such as withdrawal rate, sol concentration and the number of coating layers. Appropriate models are proposed in order to explain the obser ved effects. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.