%0 Journal Article
%T Characterisation Studies of the Structure and Properties of As-Deposited and Annealed Pulsed Magnetron Sputtered Titania Coatings
%A Justyna Kulczyk-Malecka
%A Peter J. Kelly
%A Glen West
%A Gregory C.B. Clarke
%A John A. Ridealgh
%J Coatings
%D 2013
%I MDPI AG
%R 10.3390/coatings3030166
%X Titanium dioxide thin films are durable, chemically stable, have a high refractive index and good electro/photochemical proprieties. Consequently, they are widely used as anti-reflective layers in optical devices and large area glazing products, dielectric layers in microelectronic devices and photo catalytic layers in self-cleaning surfaces. Titania coatings may have amorphous or crystalline structures, where three crystalline phases of TiO 2 can be obtained: anatase, rutile and brookite, although the latter is rarely found. It is known, however, that the structure of TiO 2 coatings is sensitive to deposition conditions and can also be modified by post-deposition heat treatments. In this study, titania coatings have been deposited onto soda-lime glass substrates by reactive sputtering from a metallic target. The magnetron was driven in mid-frequency pulsed DC mode. The as-deposited coatings were analysed by micro Raman spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Selected coatings were annealed at temperatures in the range 200¨C700 ¡ãC and re-analysed. Whilst there was weak evidence of a nanocrystallinity in the as-deposited films, it was observed that these largely amorphous low temperature structures converted into strongly crystalline structures at annealing temperatures above 400 ¡ãC.
%K titanium dioxide
%K magnetron sputtering
%K Raman
%K XRD
%U http://www.mdpi.com/2079-6412/3/3/166