Effect of substrate temperature on the arrangement of ultra-thin TiO2 films grown by a dc-magnetron sputtering deposition

TiO2 films with a thickness between 3 and 10 nm are obtained by a dc-magnetron sputtering deposition in the reactive gas atmosphere and the properties of the films are investigated by the Raman spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning probe microscopy. An influence of the deposition temperature and the post-growth annealing on the properties of the films is studied at the temperatures from 375 to 650 K. It is experimentally demonstrated that the crystalline structure can be identified by the Raman spectroscopy in the films with the thickness higher than 9 nm and annealed in the oxygen rich atmosphere for at least 2 h at about 630 K. It is proved that the changes in the film structure are not related to the changes in the chemical composition, the Ti state, and the stoichiometry of the films. Basing on the fractal analysis of topographical images, it is shown that the structural changes can be associated with the changes in the fractal dimension. These changes can be a quantitative characteristic of the structure for the films thinner than 10 nm.