Intrinsic defects and their influence on the chemical and optical properties of TiO2x films

International audienceIn this work, TiO2 films produced by rf sputtering of a TiO2 target in argon and argon–oxygen plasmas were studied. The oxygen content in the feed gas was varied in a range 3–20%. The chemical composition and structure of films were characterized by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and x-ray diffraction. Important information about the intrinsic defects of the films and their effects on the optical properties as well as a scheme of the energy band structure of the films could be derived from a combined use of optical spectroscopy and XPS

Influence of Nd3+ doping on the structural and near-IR photoluminescence properties of nanostructured TiO2 films

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Influence of hydrogen addition to an Ar plasma on the structural properties of TiO2−x thin films deposited by RF sputtering

Abstract The influence of hydrogen addition to an Ar plasma on the structural properties of TiO2−x films produced by RF sputtering of a TiO2 target at room temperature was studied. The structural properties of the films were characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy while the surface morphology was analysed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The valence band analysis showed the crystal field splitting of d states into doubly and triply degenerate states. H2 addition to the Ar plasma created additional d-state splitting due to distortions in the TiO2 structure by the Jahn–Teller mechanism. The occurrence of the Jahn–Teller split is well-correlated with oxygen vacancies in the TiO2−x films. Water adsorption at the TiO2−x surface and film hydroxylation were also addressed. The as-grown films were amorphous and SEM analysis showed a columnar structure for all the films but with a lower packing density of the columns after H2 introduction in the Ar plasma.</jats:p

Hydrogen effect on structure and mechanical properties of ZnO films deposited in Ar/H2 plasma

In the present work the mechanical properties of the ZnO thin films deposited on Si (100) substrates, were studied using a nanoindentation. The thin films of ZnO were deposited by radiofrequency sputtering with different H2/Ar gas mixture. During the deposition the species of the plasma were in situ monitored using optical emission spectroscopy. The results showed a strong effect of H2 on film hardness and elastic modulus. Using the correlation between the elastic modulus values and materials porosity in the ceramic the porosity of the ZnO was estimated . We found an increased film porosity when H2 is added to the sputtering gas, from 4% to 16% volume. Moreover we found that the porosity could be controlled by the emission intensity ratio of atomic Argon on atomic Hydrogen

RF sputtering of oxide films in Ar and Ar-H2 gas mixtures: role of H incorporation in developing transparent conductive coatings

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