Optical characterizations of tungsten oxide nanosculptures fabricated by oblique-angle deposition

Abstract

Tungsten oxide (WO3) nanosculptured thin films were fabricated via the DC magnetron sputtering system with the oblique-angle deposition (OAD) technique. The effects of the substrate angle on the thin-film properties were thoroughly investigated for physical and optical characteristics. The physical morphologies of the nanosculptures were examined by field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). The optical properties, i.e., the refractive index and birefringence, were investigated by UV-Vis-NIR spectrophotometry and transmission Jones matrix ellipsometry. The results showed that the angle of the substrates during the film fabrication greatly affected both the physical features and the optical characteristics. The thickness of the thin films also related with the birefringence which affect directly to the polarization of transmitted light.