MONITORING THE GROWTH OF TITANIUM-OXIDE THIN-FILMS BY THE LIQUID-PHASE DEPOSITION METHOD WITH A QUARTZ-CRYSTAL MICROBALANCE

The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) technique has been applied to in vestigate the formation of titanium oxide thin films by the liquid-pha se deposition (LPD) method. A linear relationship was observed between the thickness measured by the QCM technique and that measured by dire ct observation with a scanning electron microscope, indicating that it is possible to monitor the growth of thin films from aqueous solution systems by the LPD method with the QCM technique. The concentration e ffects of free F-, H3BO3 and (NH4)(2)TiF6 on the film deposition rate are discussed.