STRUCTURE AND OPTICAL PROPERTIES OF HIGH-RATE LOW-TEMPERATURE GROWN TiO2 THIN FILMS BY REACTIVE MAGNETRON SPUTTERING

TiO2 thin films have been deposited on unheated glass substrates by an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) assisted direct current (dc) reactive magnetron sputtering. XRD, TEM and UV-Vis spectrophotometer have been used to characterize the films. It is shown that the addition of an ICP and the change of gas input strongly affect film growth and structure. High quality anatase phase TiO2 film has been prepared at the metallic mode of sputtering and at low deposition temperature by using the ICP assisted dc reactive magnetron sputtering and creating a gradient of oxygen favoring the oxidation of the growing film. This film is quite transparent in the visible region, and its refractive index n and the extinction coefficient K at 550 nm are 2.51 and 7.8×10-4, respectively.