Highly conductive titanium oxide films by RF magnetron sputtering

Abstract

Transparent conductive titanium oxide films have been prepared by the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. By introducing water vapor into argon gas in the sputtering processes and sputtering at high pressure, 25 Pa, highly conductive transition of electrical conductivity from 10-4 S cm-1 to around 102 S cm-1 is obtained. The observation of the Burnstein-Moss shift in optical absorption and the dielectric constants deduced from infrared spectroscopy measurement suggest that the metallic films are obtained in the present technique. X-ray diffraction analysis shows a new phase creation with an aliened polycrystalline feature, but details are not clear. © 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.