Affiliations: [a] Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA | [b] Department of Chemistry, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA | [c] Department of Materials Science and Nano Engineering, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA | [d] Energy Safety, Research Institute, College of Engineering, Swansea University, Bay Campus, Swansea, Wales, UK
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Andrew R. Barron, Department of Chemistry, Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, TX 77005, USA. Tel.: +1 713 348 5610; arb@rice.edu
Abstract: A range of experimental conditions have been investigated for the growth of composite SiO2/ZrO2 and SiO2/TiO2 thin films by liquid phase deposition (LPD) on Si wafers. The film thickness and refractive index (n) are obtained by ellipsometry, elemental composition was determined by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and film morphology was detected by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Excessively long deposition time and high deposition temperature are found to be unfavorable for formation of compact films even though the film growth rate is improved under these conditions.
