Titanium dioxide (TIO2) thin film and plasma properties in RF magnetron sputtering

Lately, titanium dioxide (TiO2) films with anatase crystalline property received numerous attentions as unique material properties. There are wide applications of TiO2 thin film such as for photocatalytic application in solar cell. In the present study, radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering technique has been used to produce high dense, homogeneously controllable film layer at low deposition temperature using titanium (Ti) target. The diameter of the Ti target is 3 inch with fixed discharge power of 400W. Magnetron sputtering plasma has been produced in high purity 99.99% Argon (Ar) and 99.99% Oxygen (O2) environment pressure ranging from 5 to 20 mTorr. The TiO2 were growth on silicon and glass substrates. Substrate temperature during deposition was kept constant at 400°C. The distance between target and substrate holder was maintain at 14 cm with rotation of 10 rotation-per-minutes. Our X-ray diffraction result, shows anatase crystalline successfully formed with characterization peaks of plane (101) at 2θ = 25.28°, plane (202) at 2θ = 48.05° and plane (211) at 2θ = 55.06°. In addition, it is our interest to study the plasma properties and optical spectrum of Ti, Ti+ , O- , ArM and Ar+ in the chamber during the deposition process. Result of emission line intensities, electron density and temperature from optical spectroscope and Langmuir probe will be discuss further during the workshop. This works were supported by Graduate Incentive Scheme of Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) and Fundamental Research Grant Scheme of Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. (author)