Date of Award

2012-01-01

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Department

Material Science and Engineering

Advisor(s)

Felicia S. Manciu

Abstract

Tungsten oxide (WO3) has been a subject of high interest for its unique properties, and recently for its importance in different types of industrial applications which ranges from non-emissive displays, optical, microelectronic, catalytic/photocatalytic, humidity, temperature, gas, and biosensor devices. In this study, WO3 and Ti doped thin films were prepared using radio frequency magnetron reactive sputtering at different substrate temperatures ranging from room temperature to 500 ºC in increments of 100 ºC. After forming a hypothesis based on knowledge of established WO3 properties, we attempt in this work to investigate how the doping influences the roughness and the mean grain size of the nanoparticles on the surface layer of the thin films, its structure, and crystallinity. Therefore we pursued analysis by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy, using a comparative approach. The outcomes of these analyses demonstrate that higher temperatures are necessary for growing crystalline material if doping is used. Also, smaller nanoparticles are obtained when a small amount of dopant, e.g. 5% Ti, is incorporated. Both XRD and Raman measurement indicate morphological changes of the doped material. Finally, annealing of the amorphous doped samples at temperatures of 600 ºC and 900 ºC did not contribute significantly to material properties improvement.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

85 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Young Taek Yun

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