Sintering kinetics of silica-titania sol-gel films on silicon wafers

The sintering behavior of 80SiO₂–20TiO₂ sol-gel thin films on Si wafers, prepared by spin coating, was studied by the calculation of density as a function of temperature, from refractive index measurements and the Lorenz–Lorentz relationship. The sintering kinetics of the films were fit to the Mackenzie and Shuttleworth model, over the temperature range of 700 °C–850 °C. Using this model, the viscosity was determined as a function of temperature. These gel films sintered to full density at 850 °C.