The optical properties of Ti-doped TiO2 nanoceramic films deposited by simultaneous rf and dc magnetron sputtering

Abstract The Ti-doped TiO 2 (TiO 2 :Ti) nanoceramic films were deposited by simultaneous rf magnetron sputtering of TiO 2 and dc magnetron sputtering of Ti. When dc power increased, TiO preferentially formed and the deposited films had lower O/Ti atomic ratio, especially at low substrate temperature. With the decrease of substrate temperature, the TiO 2 :Ti film had relatively high optical energy gap, therefore the absorption edge showed the blue shift. The nonlinear refractive indices of TiO 2 :Ti films prepared at different dc powers and substrate temperatures were measured by Moire deflectometry, and were of the order of 10 −8 cm 2 W −1 . By decreasing dc power and increasing substrate temperature, TiO 2 :Ti film exhibited lower surface roughness, higher linear refractive index and lower stress-optical coefficient.