Titanium monoxide and titanium dioxide thin film formation by magnetron sputtering and its thermodynamic model

Abstract

This work is devoted to the problem of the formation of titanium monoxide and dioxide by magnetron sputtering. Sputtering titanium in constant flows of oxygen and argon and constant magnetron power leads to the creation of equilibrium partial pressures of oxygen and titanium vapors. The conditions for the synthesis of nanocrystalline titanium monoxide at low temperatures were determined experimentally and substantiated by the thermodynamic method. An analysis is made by the method of minimizing the Gibbs free energy. We have obtained an expression for the ratio of the oxygen flow and the gas discharge power, the analysis of which makes it possible to determine the conditions for the formation of titanium oxide with a certain stoichiometric composition. The developed method for the analysis of equilibrium in the deposition chamber can be used to identify the conditions for the synthesis of other compounds that are important for practice, including oxides and chalcogenides, and the horizons of their use in nanoelectronics are constantly growing at the present time.