The influence of oxygen deficiency on the dispersion parameters of TiO2 films

TiO2 thin films were deposited on quartz substrate by RF-magnetron sputtering technique. The effect of varying oxygen fraction f(O-2) = (O-2/(Ar + O-2) on the surface morphology, structure, electrical and optical properties was investigated. Decreasing the oxygen fraction promotes phase transformation to the extent of isolating anatase phase with well oriented A(101) preferred crystal orientation at f(O-2) of 0.1%. The refractive index dispersion curves were utilized to estimate the single oscillator parameters. In addition, an enhancement in the electrical conductivity to 2.6 x 10(-2)omega(-1)cm(-1) at f(O-2) = 0.1% was established. This enhancement was attributed to the deficiency of oxygen as well as the formation of anatase phase.

Automated summary

The deposition of TiO2 thin films on quartz substrates was conducted using RF-magnetron sputtering technique. The presence of varying oxygen fraction had a significant impact on the surface morphology, structure, electrical and optical properties of the films. It was found that decreasing the oxygen fraction level led to the promotion of phase transformation and an enhancement in electrical conductivity, with the TiO2 films showing well-oriented crystal orientation at a specific oxygen fraction of 0.1%.