Surface morphology of magnetron sputtered TiO2 films

Abstract

This article reports on investigation of the correlations between the process parameters, structure, and surface morphology of sputtered TiO2 films prepared by magnetron sputtering. It has been found that the increase in the partial pressure of oxygen pO2 results in (i) the decrease of TiO2 film deposition rate and (ii) strong changes in its structure. The structure of ∼1 μm thick TiO2 films gradually changes from rutile through mixture of rutile + anatase to anatase with increasing pO2 at pT=75 Pa. The same evolution of structure is observed when a TiO2 film is sputtered at a constant value of pO2 and the film thickness h increases. Increase in total working pressure leads to suppression of rutile structure. Maximum surface roughness was observed for films sputtered in the transition mode of sputtering. © 2007 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.