Electrical characteristics of Al2O3 films casing the sol-gel method

The sol-gel process starting from metal alkoxides is promising technique for forming films on glasses, metals, or semiconductors. This technique has the advantages that it is applicable to substrates with large areas and complicated shapes and is relatively simple, and thus low cost. Alumina films have received considerable attention as elevated temperature engineering material. Dielectric films have been prepared by the electrophoretic method from metal alkoxide solutions. Film formation process by hydrolysis of metal alkoxide + alkohol solutions consisted of 3 main stages: 1. preparation of stable organosols with monodisperse particles; 2. electrophoretic deposition; 3. dehydration of gel, which was formed after electrophoretic deposition on the stainless steel substrates. It has been found the influence of sol age on the quality of the films. It was also observed that internal structural variations in organosols significantly alter the sintering behavior of oxide films and affect their subsequent crystalline transformation. In this paper formation properties of Al2O3 thin amophous and armoured by ''whiskers'' films are discussed.