Controlling factors of film-thickness in improved aerosol deposition method

Abstract

To understand the controlling factor of film thickness in aerosol deposition method (ADM), the deposition apparatus was improved at first and the effect of pretreatment of raw barium titanate powder was studied. A developed aerosol generator where the carrier gas was separated from the aerosol generating gas was effective to avoid the agglomeration of powders during the deposition. Two dimensional scanning of the substrate decreased the film-thickness distribution caused by the imhomo-geneity of deposition rate in a line-type nozzle. Effect of pretreatments of raw powders, including sieving, drying, planetary ball milling and heating was examined, respectively. There was an optimum rotational velocity of planetary milling to increase the film thickness, indicating that adequate agglomeration of raw powders enhance the film deposition. The film thickness decreased as the heating temperature increased. The heating strengthened the agglomeration of raw powders which restricted the film deposition because the kinetic energy of particles in the aerosol was consumed to break the agglomerations rather than making film. Weakly agglomerated powders with optimum size enhanced the film thickness in ADM. © 2009 The Ceramic Society of Japan.