Composition of titania coatings deposited by different techniques

Abstract

Quantitative dement concentrations in titania films produced by different deposition techniques (evaporation, sputtering, ion-assisted deposition, ion plating and dip coating) have been determined by means of Rutherford Backscattering Spectrometry and Nuclear Reaction Analysis with the reaction ¹H(¹⁵N, αγ)¹²C. Large differences of the hydrogen content are found for the various production techniques and the related deposition parameters, which correlate with the refractive index of the respective film. In dependence on the deposition conditions the oxygen/titanium ratio of the investigated titania films varies between 1.95 and 2.09. The impurities detected in the films (tantalum, molybdenum, silicon, argon, carbon, sodium) can be related to specific deposition conditions. Three multilayer interference systems containing TiO₂ and SiO₂ show large variations in hydrogen content resembling those found for single TiO₂ films.