Deposition of titanium/titanium oxide clusters produced by magnetron sputtering

Titanium clusters of nanometer sizes are produced by magnetron sputtering with subsequent aggregation in an argon gas flow. The produced Ti clusters are directed and deposited on a silicon substrate. Deposited films are analyzed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy in order to obtain the chemical composition and by atomic force microscopy and X-ray reflection methods to obtain information about the film structure. Experiments were carried out at different temperatures of the walls of the magnetron chamber. The size and the flux of clusters from the magnetron chamber are obtained by the analysis of the substrate surface with deposited clusters. It is found that the cluster parameters strongly depend on the temperature of the magnetron chamber walls. Molecules of titanium oxides may be nuclei of condensation and accelerate the nucleation process. A theoretical analysis based on experimental results is presented. It allows us to describe various stages of cluster evolution from their formation up to the deposition on the substrate and provides estimations for parameters of the processes involving clusters. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.