Influence of Deposition Parameters on the Structure of TiO2 Thin Films Prepared by Reactive Magnetron Sputtering Technique

Abstract

TiO2 is well known for its photocatalytic properties and wide range of applications. However, the efficiency of amorphous TiO2 as photocatalyst is low and deposition of crystal TiO2 phases is strict to deposition parameters. The TiO2 phase dependence on temperature, total pressure (ptot) and oxygen partial pressure and total pressure (pO2/ptot [%]) ratio and how this affect growth rate has been studied in this work, TiO2 thin films were deposited via magnetron sputtering technique using different deposition parameters in order to get TiO2 either pure anatase or rutile phase. Crystallographic structure and morphology of deposited thin films were analyzed by XRD and SEM/EDS. TiO2 phase strongly depends on substrate temperature during the deposition of thin films, total pressure and pO2/ptot ratio. Analysis shows that TiO2 anatase phase depends more on substrate temperature than pO2/ptot, while TiO2 rutile phase in reverse, noting that it has better stability at high temperatures compared to anatase.