The Use of Additives to Control the Morphology of Thin Films Synthesized Using Aerosol Assisted Chemical Vapour Deposition

This paper identifies and discusses the use of additives to control the morphology of nanoscale crystalline zinc oxide films, grown using AACVD, principally from a solution of zinc acetate in methanol. We will discuss the use of both positively charged additives such as tetramethylammonium bromide and cetyltrimethylammonium bromide as well as negatively charged additives like sodium dodecylsulphate. Additives such as these, combined with other experimental parameters such as deposition time, have allowed us to control the size of the particles (from 100 to 400 nm in diameter), their orientation, and the regularity of their shape, from rough edged plates to well defined hexagons. We will show that the additives can be used to control morphology consistently over a temperature range of 250-400 °C, and that this technique can be applied generally to a number of additives and solvents.