Structure evolution of magnetron sputtered TiO2 thin films

The structure evolution of TiO2 thin films deposited by rf and dc magnetron sputtering onto nonintentionally heated, floating, glass and Si (100) substrates was investigated. As the total pressure was varied from 0.15 to 4.0 Pa, corresponding to the pressure-distance product values from 10.5 to 280 Pa mm, rutile, anatase, and a mixture thereof were deposited. The pressure-distance induced changes in ion energy were quantified by probing the ion energy distribution functions. The ion energy during synthesis was additionally varied by applying a substrate bias potential ranging from floating to −100 V revealing a similar phase formation characteristic. While the structure evolution of the TiO2 thin films reported in the literature exhibits a rather complex dependence on the process parameters, a simple correlation between the structure evolution and the ratio between the ion energy flux and the deposition flux was identified here. Phase pure anatase films were grown below 540 eV/Ti atom and phase pure rutile films were grown above 1000 eV/Ti atom. The here presented data suggest that the ratio between the ion energy flux and the deposition flux ratio defines the phase formation of TiO2 thin films during magnetron sputtering.