Real-Time Study of CVD Growth of Silicon Oxide on Rutile TiO2(110) Using Tetraethyl Orthosilicate

The interaction of the rutile TiO2(110) surface with tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) in the pressure range from UHV to 1 mbar as well as the TEOS-based chemical vapor deposition of SiO2 on the TiO2(110) surface were monitored in real time using near-ambient pressure X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The experimental data and density functional theory calculations confirm the dissociative adsorption of TEOS on the surface already at room temperature. At elevated pressure, the ethoxy species formed in the adsorption process undergoes further surface reactions toward a carboxyl species not observed in the absence of a TEOS gas phase reservoir. Annealing of the adsorption layer leads to the formation of SiO2, and an intermediate oxygen species assigned to a mixed titanium/silicon oxide is identified. Atomic force microscopy confirms the morphological changes after silicon oxide formation.