Oxidation of thin titanium films: Determination of the chemical composition of the oxide and the oxygen diffusion factor

Abstract

The morphologies and local electronic structures of titanium coatings deposited on the surfaces of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite were determined. Chemical compositions of the oxides formed on the coating surfaces were established. A theoretical model was developed describing the changes in the TiOx oxides (1.75 < x < 2) band gap depending on the duration and temperature of the titanium film annealing procedure in oxygen. The effective activation energy of oxygen diffusion in TiOx (1.75 < x < 2) was determined, and the pre-exponential factor of the diffusion coefficient was estimated.