Controlled Deposition of Nanostructured Hierarchical TiO Thin Films by Low Pressure Supersonic Plasma Jets.

Plasma-assisted supersonic jet deposition (PA-SJD) is a precise technique for the fabrication of thin films with a desired nanostructured morphology. In this work, we used quadrupole mass spectrometry of the neutral species in the jet and the extensive characterization of TiO films to improve our understanding of the relationship between jet chemistry and film properties. To do this, an organo-metallic precursor (titanium tetra-isopropoxide or TTIP) was first dissociated using a reactive argon-oxygen plasma in a vacuum chamber and then delivered into a second, lower pressure chamber through a nozzle.