Titanium oxide thin films deposited by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering

Abstract Ionized physical vapor deposition processes are of great interest for surface modification because the flexibility of the thin film deposition process can be increased by ionizing the metallic vapor. Recently, high-power impulse magnetron discharges have been implemented to achieve high ionization rates. Thin films of titanium oxide have been deposited on glass and steel substrates using 450 × 150 mm rectangular titanium target in argon–oxygen atmosphere. The average power delivered to the plasma is ranging between 1.5 and 2 kW and peak current and voltage are respectively 200 A and 900 V. Films are characterized using Scanning Electron Microscopy, Grazing Incidence X-ray Diffraction and Optical Transmission Spectroscopy. One of the major findings is the presence of rutile deposited on steel substrate (even for 0 V bias grounded substrate) and the significant increase of the refractive index of the films deposited on glass compared to thin films deposited via conventional direct current bipolar pulsed magnetron sputtering. Films synthesized by high-power impulse magnetron sputtering are denser.