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The scaling down of Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) transistors to sub-100nm requires replacement of conventional Silicon dioxide layer with high dielectric constant (K) material for gate dielectric. Among the various high-K dielectrics that have been studied, HfO2 is found to be a promising candidate because of its high dielectric constant (~25), large band gap (5.68 eV), thermodynamic stability and good interface with Si. The HfO2 films have already been deposited using different growth techniques such as Atomic layer Deposition (ALD), Metalorgonic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD). Ion Assisted Deposition (IAD) is a novel technique that has been successfully employed to produce optical coatings of required quality. This growth technique presents many advantages over the other techniques such as formation from solid oxide sources, low growth temperatures (25-3000C) and film densification by ion bombardment. Hence this technique has been used to prepare HfO2 films in the present investigations. This thesis presents the structural, optical and electrical properties of HfO2 thin films prepared by Ion assisted deposition (IAD). The suitability of Ion assisted deposition process and the importance of investigations on the influence of process parameters on the film characteristics have been brought out in the process parameters-structure-composition and properties correlation presented in this thesis. The aim of this work is to process and characterize HfO2 films and investigate the influence of process parameters on the structure, composition and properties of the films to identify their suitability for CMOS gate applications. HfO2 films were deposited on p-type Si (100) wafers by Ion assisted deposition in an electron beam evaporation (Leybold,L-560) system. Pre-bombardment of the substrates with Argon ions has been done to remove any native oxide layer formation on Silicon by using a hallow cathode ion source (DENTON VACUUM CC103). During the film deposition a collimated oxygen ion beam, generated from the ion source is directed towards the substrate. The oxygen ion current is controlled by adjusting the voltage applied to the ion source and the oxygen flow through the ion source. The oxygen ions bombard the film as it grows and in that process improves its packing density as well as its stoichiometry. Keeping the deposition rate and thickness constant, HfO2 films have been deposited by varying Ion Current, Ion energy and substrate temperature. MOS capacitors were fabricated with Aluminum as gate electrode deposited by thermal evaporation. Ellipsometry techniques have been used to measure the optical thickness of the films. The interfacial layer (IL) formed at the HfO2/ Si interface was investigated by using Fourier transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The structural characterization was carried out by X-ray diffraction technique. The high frequency capacitance-voltage and DC leakage current characteristics were measured to analyze the electrical characteristics of MOS capacitors. The effect of post deposition annealing (PDA) of the films at 600°C and 700ºC in Forming Gas (15%H2+85%N2) ambient and Post metallization annealing (PMA) at 400ºC in the same ambient was also investigated to observe the changes in electrical characteristics. The initial step of this work was to compare the characteristics of the films deposited by reactive evaporation and Ion assisted deposition which confirmed the superiority of the quality of IAD coatings and justified the need to proceed further with a more detailed study on the influence of various parameters on the properties of IAD coatings. HfO2 films deposited on substrates maintained at 1000C exhibited better structural, Optical and Electrical properties. The leakage current in these films were lower which has been attributed to silicate free interface as confirmed by XRD studies. Investigations on films deposited with oxygen ion beams of different currents in the range 20 to 40mA indicated that the films deposited at 20mA ion current showed better electrical properties. Better stoichiometry of these films as indicated by FT IR studies was one of the reasons for their improved performance. Annealing of these films at 6000C and 7000C in FGA medium resulted in creation of silicates and silicides at the interface thereby increasing the leakage currents and degraded the film properties. The films deposited with oxygen ion beams generated with a driving voltage 265V showed better structural and optical properties with silicate free interface compared with low and high driving voltages. Among all the films, the maximum dielectric constant of about 21.9 with a minimum EOT of 5.5 nm corresponding to a film deposited at ion current 20mA with PMA 400°C in FG ambient for 20minites is achieved. The lowest value of interface charge density achieved is 2.7 x1012 per cm-2 eV-1 corresponding to the sample deposited at substrate temperature 100°C with deposition rate of 0.5Å/sec followed by post metallization annealing at 400°C in forming gas for 20minutes. The range of Dit values that were obtained are varying from 2.7x 1012 – 16.7x1012 cm-2eV-1.It was also found that, the samples deposited at higher ion currents show lower Dit values than the samples deposited at lower ion currents. From the I−V analysis, the leakage current density is found to be comparatively less in IAD than in reactive evaporation. Leakage current increases with increase in substrate temperature and the same trend is observed with annealed films also. The lowest leakage current density of 1.05x10–8 A/cm2 at a gate bias of 1V was observed in the films deposited at substrate temperature 1000C. The present thesis focused on the suitability of the Ion Assisted deposition process for the preparation of HfO2 films for high-K gate dielectric application and the importance of investigations on the influence of process parameters on the film characteristics.

Perovskite based artificial superlattices has recently been extensively investigated due to the immense promise in various device applications. The major applications include non-volatile random access memories, microwave devices, phase shifters voltage tunable capacitor applications etc. In this thesis we have taken up the investigation of two different types of symmetric superlattices, viz. BaZrO3/BaTiO3 and SrTiO3/BaZrO3, with possible applicability to voltage tunable devices. Chapter 1 deals with the introduction to the perovskite based functional oxides. Their various applications and the specific requirements for voltage tunable device applications has also been discussed in detail. The basic properties of BaTiO3 and SrTiO3, which are well documented in the literature, have been reviewed. The fundamental physics of interfacial interactions that influence the properties of superlattices is also discussed using existing models. The reason behind the choice of constructing artificial superlattices of BaZrO3/BaTiO3 and SrTiO3/BaZrO3 and the motivation behind this thesis is outlined. Chapter 2 gives a brief description of the basic characterization techniques that has been employed for studying the thin films. These include pulsed laser deposition of oxide thin films, structural characterization using X-Ray Diffraction and Atomic Force Microscope and electrical characterization of thin film metal-insulator-metal structures. The basic principle behind the techniques has also been included in various sections of this chapter. Chapter 3 introduces the reader to basic properties of the less studied perovskite material BaZrO3, one of the parent components of Ba(Zr,Ti)O3 based ceramics for high frequency applications. BaZrO3 is the common material in both the types of superlattices studied in this thesis. Initially the growth of polycrystalline BaZrO3 on (111)Pt/TiO2/SiO2/Si has been elaborated in this chapter. After characterizing the crystalline quality of the films and optimizing the growth conditions, epitaxial BaZrO3 films has been grown on (001) SrTiO3 substates. Dielectric properties of epitaxial BaZrO3 film have been measured as a function of temperature and frequencies. The electric field tunability of BaZrO3 films has been calculated from capacitance-voltage data for comparison with superlattice structures. Chapter 4 deals with the basic considerations involving growth of artificial superlattices and multilayers using pulsed laser ablation technique. The fundamental differences between formation of multilayers and superlattices have also been discussed, and the basic considerations for optimizing growth parameters are analyzed in this chapter. X-ray θ-2θ and φ-scans have been performed to investigate crystal quality of superlattices. The growth rates calculated from the satellite reflections in X-ray θ-2θ scans indicate fair degree of control over the growth and φ-scans confirms epitaxial cube-on cube growth of both types of superlattices. Atomic Force microscopy has been used to hcaracterize the film quality and surface morphology of superlattice structures and it has been found that the films have a very smooth surface with rms roughness of the order of few nanometres. Chapter5 deals with the detailed electrical characterization of both types of superlattices structures. Dielectric response showed nearly temperature invariance for both types of superlattices. Polarization measurements show that the heterostructures are in paraelectric state. Even for paraelectric/ferroelectric BaZrO3/BaTiO3 superlattices, stress induced stabilization of the paraelectric state is exhibited in low period superlattices. Paraelectric/paraelectric-SrTiO3/BaZrO3 superlattices exhibited a tunability of ~20% at intermediate modulation periods and an extremely stable dissipation factor with respect to temperature which is very attractive for device application point of view. A maximum tunability of ~40% has been observed for lowest period BaZrO3/BaTiO3 superlattice. Relatively high Quality Factors has been observed for both type of superlattices and their dependence on the modulation periods has been analyzed. Dielectric relaxation data showed that Maxwell-Wanger type of behaviour is exhibited but the presence of a conductance component G had to be realized in the equivalent circuit representation, which originates from the observation of a square law dependence of the alternating current on the frequency. Finally DC electrical characteristics were investigated as a function of temperature to determine the type of conduction mechanism that is involoved. The data has been analyzed using existing theories of high field conduction in thin dielectric films and it has been found that at different temperature ranges, the conduction mechanism varied from bulk limited Poole-Frenkel to Space Charge limited conduction. The activation energy calculation indicate that the physical processes responsible for dielectric relaxation and dc conduction are identical.

Le dépôt chimique en phase vapeur assisté par plasma hors équilibre thermodynamique est largement étudié pour la synthèse de couches minces fonctionnelles. Pour certaines applications, la multifonctionnalité est un prérequis, ce qui peut être réalisé à l’aide d’un certain nombre de méthodes, dont le dépôt par plasma de couches minces nanocomposites. En utilisant un réacteurinjecteur, des précurseurs liquides avec ou sans nanoobjets peuvent être injectés dans la décharge sous la forme d’aérosols en régime pulsé, ce qui donne lieu à des plasmas transitoires avec des propriétés fondamentales qui dépendent du temps. L’impact de l’injection de pulses d’argon dans un plasma RF d’argon à basse pression a récemment été étudié par spectroscopie d’émission optique. La présente étude s’inscrit comme une suite à ce travail et vise à caractériser le procédé en présence de pulses de pentane pour le dépôt de couches minces hydrocarbonées, d’une part, et de pulses de pentane et de nanoparticules d’oxyde de zinc pour le dépôt de couches minces hydrocarbonées avec des nanoinclusions d’oxyde métallique, d’autre part. Dans la première partie, les résultats montrent que l’augmentation de la quantité d’aérosol injectée dans le plasma RF d’argon, obtenue en augmentant soit la fréquence des impulsions, soit la quantité de liquide injectée pendant une impulsion, influence différemment les variations transitoires de la pression d’opération et de la tension d’auto-polarisation sur le substrat pendant chaque impulsion. Dans la gamme des conditions expérimentales étudiées, la vitesse de dépôt des revêtements CxHy augmente avec la quantité de précurseur injecté. Cependant, en corrélant ces données avec les caractéristiques de l’aérosol obtenue par diffusion de la lumière, il s’avère que la taille des gouttelettes joue un rôle important dans la cinétique du dépôt et dans l’évolution des propriétés des couches déposées. Dans la seconde partie, les données montrent que des couches minces formées de nanoparticules de ZnO imbriquées dans une matrice CxHy peuvent être formées en remplaçant le pentane par une solution colloïdale. Dans ces conditions, la vitesse de dépôt et la quantité de nanoparticules injectées dans la couche peuvent être contrôlée en ajustant la fréquence des impulsions et la quantité de précurseur injectée pendant une impulsion. / Plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition in non-equilibrium plasmas is widely studied for the synthesis of functional thin films. For some applications, multifunctionality is a prerequisite, which can be achieved using several methods, including plasma deposition of nanocomposite thin films. Using a reactor-injector, liquid precursors with or without nanoobjects can be injected into the discharge as pulsed aerosols, giving rise to transient plasmas with time-dependent fundamental properties. The impact of injecting argon pulses into a low-pressure RF argon plasma has recently been studied by optical emission spectroscopy. The present study is a follow-up to this work and aims to characterize the process in the presence of pentane pulses for the deposition of thin hydrocarbon layers, on the one hand, and pentane pulses and zinc oxide nanoparticles for the deposition of thin hydrocarbon layers with metal oxide nanoinclusions, on the other hand. In the first part, the results show that increasing the amount of aerosol injected into the RF argon plasma, obtained by increasing either the pulse frequency or the amount of liquid injected during a pulse, influences differently the temporal variations of the operating pressure and self-bias voltage on the substrate during each pulse. In the range of experimental conditions studied, the deposition rate of CxHy coatings increases with the amount of precursor injected. However, by correlating these data with the characteristics of the aerosol obtained by light scattering, it turns out that the size of the droplets plays an important role on the thin-film deposition kinetics and on the evolution of the properties of the plasma-deposited layers. In the second part, the data show that thin films formed of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in a CxHy matrix can be formed by replacing pentane with a colloidal solution. Under these conditions, the deposition rate and the quantity of nanoparticles injected into the layer can be controlled by adjusting the frequency of the pulses and the quantity of precursor injected during a pulse.

No description available.

System on Chip (SoC) and System in Package (SiP) are two electronic technologies that involve integrating multiple functionalities onto a single platform. When the platform is a single wafer, as in SOC, it requires the ability to deposit various materials that enable the different functions on to an underlying substrate that can host the electronic circuitry. Transition metal oxides which have a wide range of properties are ideal candidates for the functional material. Si wafer on which micro-electronics technology is widely commercialized is the ideal host platform. Integrating oxides with Si, generally in the form of thin films as required by microelectronics technology, is however a challenge. It starts with the fact that the properties of crystalline oxides to be exploited in performing various functions are direction dependent. Thus, thin films of these oxides need to be deposited on Si in certain crystallographic orientations. Even if a suitably oriented Si wafer surface were available, it does not always provide for epitaxial growth a critical requirement for controlling the crystalline orientation of thin films. This is because Si surface is covered by an amorphous oxide of Si (SiOx). Thus, during growth of the functional oxide, an ambience in which the Si itself will not oxidize needs to be provided. In addition, during thin film growth on either Si or SiOx surface stresses are generated from various sources. Stress and its relaxation are also associated with the formation and evolution of defects. Both, stress and defects need to be managed in order to harness their beneficial effects and prevent detrimental ones. Given the requirement of SoC technology and the problem associated, the research work reported in this thesis was hence concerned with the precise controlling the stress and microstructure in oxide thin films deposited on Si substrates. In order to do so a versatile, ultra high vacuum (UHV) thin film with a base pressure of 10-9 Torr was designed and built as part of this study. The chamber is capable of depositing films by both sputtering (RF & DC) and pulsed laser ablation (PLD). The system has been designed to include an optical curvature measurement tool that enabled real-time stress measurement during growth. Doped zirconia, ZrO2, was chosen as the first oxide to be deposited, as it is among the few oxides that is more stable than SiOx. It is hence used as a buffer layer. It is shown in this thesis that a change in the growth rate at nucleation can lead to (100) or (111) textured films. These two are among the most commonly preferred orientation. Following nucleation a change in growth rate does not affect orientation but affects stress. Thus, independent selection of texture and stress is demonstrated in YSZ thin films on Si. A quantitative model based on the adatom motion on the growth surface and the anisotropic growth rates of the two orientations is used to explain these observations. This study was then subsequent extended to the growth on platinized Si another commonly used Si platform.. A knowledge of the stress and microstructure tailoring in cubic zirconia on Si was then extended to look at the effect of stress on electrical properties of zirconia on germanium for high-k dielectric applications. Ge channels are expected to play a key role in next generation n-MOS technology. Development of high-k dielectrics for channel control is hence essential. Interesting stress and property relations were analyzed in ZrO2/Ge. Stress and texture in pulsed laser deposited (PLD) oxides on silicon and SrTiO3 were studied. It is shown in this thesis that stress tuning is critical to achieve the highest possible dielectric constant. The effect of stress on dielectric constant is due to two reasons. The first one is an indirect effect involving the effect of stress on phase stability. The second one is the direct effect involving interatomic distance. By stress control an equivalent oxide thickness (EOT) of 0.8 nm was achieved in sputter deposited ZrO2/Ge films at 5 nm thickness. This is among the best reported till date. Finally, the effect of growth parameters and deposition geometry on the microstructural and stress evolution during deposition of SrTiO3 on Si and BaTiO3 on SrTiO3 by pulsed laser deposition is the same chamber is described.

M. Tech. (Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / In chemical bath deposition (CBD) method, deposition of metal chalcogenide semiconducting thin films occurs due to substrate maintained in contact with a dilute chemical bath containing metal and chalcogenide ions. Semiconducting nickel sulphide (NiS) and iron sulphide (FeS) thin films have been prepared on a glass substrate by varying the deposition parameters such as the concentration of solutions, deposition time, temperature and pH. Multi-layered thin films were deposited on glass substrate and the spin-cast conductive polymer, poly (3.4-ethylenedioxythiopene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT: PSS) was intercalated. The characterization of the films was carried out using UV-Vis spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Single layer nickel sulphide was deposited at room temperature, pH 10 and the deposition period of 3 hours, triethanolamine was used as the complexing agent. Iron sulphide was deposited for 6 hours at 70 °C with the pH of 2.5 using EDTA as a complexing agent. Generally the iron and nickel sulphide were prepared from their respective nickel or iron salt and the thiourea or thiosulfate as a source of sulphide ions in solution. SEM and AFM results show that the FeS film is evenly coated and has uniform grain size with the roughness of ~22.4 nm and thickness of ~23.8 nm. The optical absorption analysis of FeS showed the band gap energy of ~2.9 eV which blue shifted from the bulk. The EDX analysis confirms the compositions of iron and sulphur in FeS films. XRD pattern showed amorphous films for both FeS and NiS thin films due to the amorphous nature of the glass substrate. The optical data of NiS film were analysed and exhibited the band gap energy of ~3.5 eV and ~3.3 eV for successive ionic layer adsorption and reaction (SILAR), which is the modified CBD, both blue shifted from the bulk. The films were observed to have thickness value of ~35.7 nm and ~2.3 nm SILAR with the roughness of ~112.5 nm and ~35.4 nm SILAR from AFM results. SEM confirmed the uniformly distributed film presented by AFM analysis. The chemical composition of Ni and S were confirmed by EDX spectra. The PEDOT: PSS was intercalated between the FeS as the first layer and NiS as the top layer which gave the thickness of ~18.7 nm and roughness of ~115.2 nm from AFM analysis. PEDOT: PSS acted as a passive layer that protects and stabilize the FeS layer and NiS as the third active layer which enhanced the optical absorption of the film when using SILAR method for solar application.

L’émergence des satellites très haut débit pour la couverture des zones rurales s’accompagne de nombreuses contraintes technologiques. Dans le cadre du plan France très haut débit, le projet THD-sat proposé par le CNES se base sur l’utilisation des bandes Q et V pour assurer les liaisons avec les stations au sol et libérer de la ressource sur la bande Ka communément utilisée par les satellites ancienne génération. Avec la montée en fréquence, les besoins en termes de filtrage deviennent très stricts nécessitant des considérations particulières. Le premier chapitre reprend le contexte de l’étude et expose les différents éléments permettant de justifier le choix de la technologie SIW qui profite à la fois des bons facteurs de qualité des modes volumiques se propageant dans le substrat et de l’aisance du procédé technologique et de l’intégration des structures planaires. Les performances des cavités SIW restent néanmoins intimement liées à l’épaisseur de substrat qui doit être augmentée pour atteindre de meilleurs facteurs de qualité. L’augmentation de l’épaisseur de substrat s’accompagne de deux principales limitations : le rallongement des fils de « bonding » utilisés pour le câblage du filtre à son environnement MIC d’épaisseur 254 μm et l’élargissement de la ligne d’accès 50 Ω induisant des problèmes de discontinuités et d’excitations de modes parasites. L’approche suivie consiste à considérer des formes 3D permettant l’adaptation de mode et d’épaisseur entre une ligne microruban sur substrat de 254 μm d’épaisseur et le SIW d’épaisseur plus importante. Une nouvelle transition 3D est dès lors imaginée. Le chapitre II reprend les différents procédés technologiques utilisés pour la mise en forme et la métallisation des substrats 3D. Les substrats considérés sont l’alumine et la silice fondue mis en forme par ablation laser et le thermoplastique COP mis en forme par moulage. La principale limitation de l’ablation laser concerne les épaisseurs de substrat accessibles. Nous nous limitons à 635 μm dans le cas de l’alumine et à 500 μm dans le cas de la silice fondue. Le moulage polymère permet de s’affranchir de cette limitation et de viser des substrats plus épais (2 mm pour la solution COP).Le chapitre III reprend les étapes de conception des différentes solutions de filtrage avec la nouvelle transition 3D. Des résultats de mesures de différents prototypes réalisés sont par ailleurs présentés. Ces résultats sont globalement encourageants mais nécessitent d’être davantage développés pour être mieux exploitables. / The emergence of satellite high-speed internet for the coverage of rural zones is accompanied by numerous technological constraints. The current trend is to use higher frequency bands to release the satellite capacity for users. The increasing frequency requires new considerations especially for filtering needs which become notably strict in terms of performance and integration in small integrated circuits. This work introduces filtering solutions based on high quality factor Substrate Integrated Waveguides (SIW) using a novel 3D transition for a better integration in widely planar Hybrid ICs.The first chapter introduces the study’s context and the different elements justifying the use of the SIW technology.In fact, these structures profit from both the good quality factors of TE-modes propagating in the substrate and the easy fabrication process and integration of planar circuits. However, to increase the SIW quality factor, the substrate’s height should be increased which induces interconnection limitations such as long bond wires with high parasitic effects and large microstrip access lines with discontinuity problems and the propagation of parasitic modes. The adopted approach consists in imagining 3D shapes providing both mode and thickness matching between a microstrip line etched on a thin substrate and a high substrate SIW.The second chapter introduces the different manufacturing processes used for the substrate’s shaping and metallization. Three substrates are considered: Alumina, fused Silica and Cyclo Olefin Polymer COC. Alumina is widely used in space applications and has a well-mastered process. For equivalent dielectric losses, fused silica has a lower permittivity for bigger structures with less manufacturing tolerance sensitivity. Both Alumina and fused silica substrates are shaped using a laser ablation. The reachable substrate’s height using this machining method is relatively low. The polymer solution (COP) is elaborated using a molding process allowing higher substrates heights.The last chapter outlines the design steps of the different solutions and the measurement results of the first prototypes. These results are on the whole encouraging but require further development.

Grâce à ses excellentes propriétés physiques et chimiques (stable thermiquement, bon conducteur électrique et de chaleur, ductile, très dur mécaniquement, bonne inertie chimique), le matériau tantale et son nitrure TaNx sont utilisés comme revêtement de surface des outils, résistance électrique, barrière de diffusion au cuivre, croissance de nanotubes par un procédé chimique catalytique en phase vapeur. C’est ce matériau et son nitrure que nous avons étudiés lors de cette thèse.Aujourd’hui les exigences des industriels nécessitent que la pulvérisation cathodique magnétron (PCM) puisse être appliquée aux pièces de formes complexes. La principale limitation de cette méthode de dépôt est que la plupart des particules pulvérisées sont neutres. Pour contrôler l’énergie et la trajectoire des particules pulvérisées, des nouveaux procédés IPVD (Ionized Physical Vapor Deposition) ont été développés pour ioniser les atomes pulvérisés. Le procédé RF-IPVD (Radio-Frequency Ionized Physical Vapor Deposition) permet, grâce à une boucle placée entre la cible et le substrat et polarisée en RF, de créer un second plasma permettant d’ioniser la vapeur pulvérisée. Un autre procédé a été développé : nommé HIPIMS (High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering), ce procédé utilise une alimentation fournissant des impulsions de courte durée et de forte puissance au lieu d’une alimentation DC. Les particules pulvérisées peuvent être ionisées dans le plasma magnétron qui est très dense lors des impulsions. Nous avons réalisé des couches minces de Ta par PCM, RF-IPVD et HIPIMS, et des couches minces de TaNx par PCM et HIPIMS. Les différentes propriétés des décharges et des couches minces sont étudiées et comparées dans ce mémoire. / Thanks to their excellent physical and chimical characteristics such as good stability with temperature, good conductor of heat and electricity, ductility, hardness, chemical inertness and good corrosion resistance, tantalum and its nitride are used in a wide variety of applications such as wear and corrosion-resistant materials, thin film transistors, diffusion barrier for copper and for carbon nanotube grown by CCVD process (catalytically chemical vapor deposition). For some recent industrial demand, it is necessary to deposit on substrates with complex shape. The main disadvantage of the conventional magnetron sputtering (CMS) is that most of the sputtered particles are neutral. To controle the energy and the path of sputtered particles, new magnetron sputtering techniques have been developed for ionizing a significant fraction of sputtered material. A new sputtering process called RF-IPVD consists in ionizing the sputtered vapor by adding second plasma by a RF coil between the target and the substrate. Another method called HIPIMS (High Power Impulsed Magnetron Sputtering), uses high power impulse instead of DC power. During the impulse, the sputtered Ta atoms are ionized in the dense plasma. We have deposited Ta thin films by CMS, RF-IPVD and HIPIMS and TaNx thin films by CMS and HIPIMS. The objective of this thesis is to compare the properties of discharges and thin films deposited by these different techniques.

Today there is a great deal of interest in the development of gas sensors for various applications like monitoring of toxic gases, detection in oil reservoirs, mines, homes etc. Solid-state gas sensors have many advantages over the conventional analytical methods and hence are widely used. Amongst them, semiconducting metal-oxides based sensors are popular due to many advantages like low cost, small size, high sensitivity and long life. The present thesis reports a detailed work of TiO2 (Titania) thin film fabrication based on sol-gel method, study of their crystallization behavior and surface morphology, and characterizing them for alcohol sensing properties Sol-gel method is a wet chemical technique with many advantages over the conventional methods and offers a high degree of versatility to modify the film properties. Titania thin films were made with titanium isopropoxide as the precursor and ethanol and isopropanol as the solvents. Also effect of surfactants(PEG and CTAB) on the sol properties and film properties have experimentally examined. A in-house gas sensor testing setup has been designed and fabricated to characterize the sensors. Sensors with three different electrode configurations and also two different electrode material have been tested. The electrode geometry and material play a significant role on the sensing behavior and results for the same have been discussed.