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 investigate the formation of titanium oxide thin films by the liquid-phase deposition (LPD) method. A linear relationship was observed between the thickness measured by the QCM technique and that measured by direct 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 effects of free F - , H 3 BO 3 and (NH 4 ) 2 TiF 6 on the film deposition rate are discussed.