Secondary ion mass spectrometric investigation on ruthenium oxide systems: a comparison between poly- and nanocrystalline deposits

The influence of different RuO2 crystallite sizes was investigated by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) on the oxide deposited on various support materials (Ni, Ti, Al2O3, oxidized Si(100)). In order to examine the effect of an oxidic environment on the film structure, RuO2 20%-TiO2 80% at. mixed oxide was deposited on Ti. The polycrystalline coatings were prepared by heating the Ru (and Ti)-containing solution dropped on the supports. RuO2 nanocrystalline coatings were grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) from Ru(COD)(3-allyl)2.2 The identification of mixed oxide clusters showed the higher reactivity of Ni and Al2O3 over the other substrates. Diffusion and migration characteristics were observed to be influenced by the nature of the support. The results are complementary to those of a previous SIMS investigation.