Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition of Titanium Compounds (NOT KNOWN IF PUBLISHED BECAUSE AUTHOR HAS LEFT AT&T)

Titanium dioxide, titanium nitride, and titanium diboride have valuable properties for a variety of applications such as optical coatings, decorative coatings, and hard metal coatings. Because of the throwing power and low cost, chemical vapor deposition is the preferred technique for depositing thin films of these materials. However, the substrate temperatures that are required for the standard chemical vapor deposition processes are so high that two problems are often encountered: first, substrates that are sensitive to high temperatures are unusable, and second, only the high temperature phases and morphology are obtained. Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) can remove the high temperature requirements for reasonable deposition rates and also provides additional options in tailoring the properties of the films. In PECVD the reaction rate dependence on temperature is reduced because a nonequilibrium plasma is used to promote the chemical reactions that permit deposition. Using PECVD, the types of substrates that can be coated are extended, and substrate temperature can be an additional parameter in adjusting the properties of the films. Also, plasma parameters, such as rf power and frequency can be used to modify properties of the materials.