Physical Properties of Titanium Oxide Thin Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering: Influence Substrate Temperature and O2/Ar in the Gas Mixture

Titanium oxide thin film compounds were grown on p-type Si (100) and BK7 glass as substrate using reactive DC magnetron sputtering. The effect of temperature growth on structural, optical and morphological properties was investigated. By means of X-ray diffraction (XRD) the phase composition was characterized. UV–Vis-NIR spectroscopy was used for reflection and transmission measurements of deposited thin film layers. Atomic force microscopy was used to evaluate and compute the surface roughness changes for different temperatures growth. The XRD results show that the temperature growth effects on the phase formation and structure. Increasing the substrate growth temperature would result in change of film thickness due to different phase and structure formation. The calculated band gap from optical measurements of the thin films shows a decrease at higher substrate temperature growth.