Morphological study of TiO₂ thin films doped with cobalt by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Abstract

In this work, we present the synthesis of thin films of TiO2 doped with cobalt using the MOCVD technique, allowing the growth of coatings with controlled morphology and a faster deposit speed, as compared to other techniques. In addition, the synthesis parameters necessary for the reproducibility of the films were obtained. Anatase thin films doped with cobalt were prepared by the Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition technique working in pulsed injection mode using a mixture of titanium (IV) isopropoxide and acetyl acetonate of cobalt at different concentrations as the precursor. The films were deposited on silicon (1 0 0) substrates at temperature of 650 °C. The crystalline structure of the deposited films was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman spectroscopy. The characteristic XRD peaks and vibrational modes of TiO2 corresponding to the anatase phase were observed in all cases, without any secondary or mixed phase. On the other hand, the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) observations show that the film surfaces are formed by a higher number of porous, which are characteristic of the anatase films and the corresponding Energy Dispersion Spectroscopy (EDS) shows the elemental composition.