Sequential Processes to Produce N-TiO₂ Films Through Rf Plasmas

¹ Instituto Nacional de Investigaciones Nucleares, Plasma Physics Laboratory, AP 18-1027, 11801, México, D.F., México
² Instituto Tecnológico de Toluca, AP 890, Toluca, México
³ ESIME-Zacatenco-IPN, AP 07738, México, D.F., México

^a raul.valencia@inin.gob.mx
^b anibal.delapiedad@gmail.com
^c regulo.lopez@inin.gob.mx
^d benjamin.rodriguez@inin.gob.mx
^e antonio.cabrera@inin.gob.mx
^f rosendo.eguiluz@inin.gob.mx
^g arturo.munoz@inin.gob.mx
^h mdelaros@ipn.mx
^* Corresponding author: raul.valencia@inin.gob.mx

Abstract

Using as target a CpTi disk in an atmosphere of argon/oxygen and by rf plasma. First titanium dioxide (TiO₂) films were obtained on silicon substrates, and subsequently, these films were doped with nitrogen (N-TiO₂). In both processes, along four hours at 390°C of temperature. X-Ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy confirmed the presence of the nanostructured anatase phase. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analyzes indicate that the nitrogen atoms were incorporated into the TiO₂ film with ~33.9 at%. The films reach a thickness of 1.25 μm and 40 nm the average uniformity determined by using an atomic force microscope. Finally, UV-Vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy outcome evaluated ones an energy band gap reduction from 3.17 eV to 2.95 eV corresponding to TiO₂ films and N-TiO₂ films respectively.