A supersonic plasma jet source for controlled and efficient thin film deposition

A novel plasma source suitable for controllable nanostructured thin film deposition processes is proposed. It exploits the separation of the process in two distinct phases. First precursor dissociation and radical formation is performed in a dense oxidizing plasma. Then nucleation and aggregation of molecular clusters occur during the expansion into vacuum of a supersonic jet. This allows a superior control of cluster size and energy in the process of film growth. Characterization of the plasma state and source performances in precursor dissociation have been investigated. The performances of this new Plasma Assisted Supersonic Jet Deposition technique were demonstrated using organic compounds of titanium to obtain TiO2 thin nanostructured films.