Design for low‐temperature microwave‐assisted crystallization of ceramic thin films

We designed experiments to determine optimized values for input parameters such as temperature, solution concentration, and power input for synthesizing ceramic materials, specifically titanium dioxide (TiO2) thin films using microwave radiation, which permits crystallization of these films at significantly lower temperatures (150‐160 °C) compared to conventional techniques (>450 °C). The advantage of using lower temperatures is both reduced energy requirements, and in expanding the set of substrates (e.g., plastics) on which the thin film materials can be deposited. Low temperature crystallization permits ceramic thin film materials to be directly grown on delicate plastic substrates (which melt at temperatures over 200°C) and thus would have important applications in the emerging flexible electronics industry. Using a linear regression with quadratic terms, we found estimated optimal settings for the reaction parameters. When tried experimentally, these optimal settings produced better results (% coverage with film) than any of the data used in estimation. This approach allows fine tuning of the input parameters and can lead to reliable synthesis of films in a low‐temperature environment. It may also be an important step in understanding the fundamental mechanisms underlying the growth of these films in the presence of electromagnetic fields like microwave radiation. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.