Aqueous Solution-Based Ceramic Thin Film Deposition Using Organic Polymers with Amide Groups

Abstract
An aqueous solution-based dip-coating technique was presented for ceramic thin film deposition. Organic polymers with amide groups such as polyvinylpyrrolidone, polyvinylacetamide and polyacrylamide, incorporated in aqueous solutions of metal salts, were demonstrated to offer much better wetting of the substrates and gel film formability. Transparent, crack-free TiO2 and ZrO2 thin films of 0.07–0.1 µm in thickness could be obtained from aqueous solutions of Ti(SO4)2 and ZrCl2O, respectively, containing these organic polymers.