A Soft Solution Route for Direct Patterning of Titanium Oxide Nanostructures onto The Silicon Substrate in Ambient Condition by In Situ Plasma Discharge Technique

Patterning of functional oxides and various carbon are emergent subject of research. At present, these patterning process have been multi-step batch process: i.e., (1) thin film formation by PVD or CVD technique, (2) masking, (3) etching, and (4) post-heating. These multi-step processing in semiconductor fabrication technique is not environmental-friendly, as it require huge amount of energy, materials losses, rigid selective process, and more time. However, we have challenged “direct patterning in solution” as a one-step patterning of various advanced functional nanomaterials onto a semiconducting substrate<br/>We have proposed in establishing a novel direct patterning of functional oxides by plasma discharge in solution onto a semiconducting substrate. Herein, titanium dioxide micropatterning has been established. An electrochemically etched tungsten tip has been used as probe electrode for the plasma discharge, and acts as a pattern forming tip. At an applied cathodic bias of ~1-2 kV, a localized activated plasma has been generated. Titanium species containing electrolyte complex has been used at ambient temperature and pressure. The micro-patterned titanium dioxides structures have been analysed by optical microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.