Extracting the Optical Constants of Partially Absorbing TiO2 ALD Films
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Date
2024-12-12
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Citation of Original Publication
Chowdhary, Nimarta Kaur, and Theodosia Gougousi. “Extracting the Optical Constants of Partially Absorbing TiO2 ALD Films.” Coatings 14, no. 12 (December 2024): 1555. https://doi.org/10.3390/coatings14121555.
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Attribution 4.0 International
Abstract
Typical titanium oxide (TiO₂) films are transparent in the visible range, allowing for their index of refraction and thickness to be extracted by single-angle spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) using a Cauchy model. However, TiO₂ films grown by atomic layer deposition (ALD) from tetrakis(dimethylamino)titanium (IV) (TDMAT) and H₂O at 350 °C absorb in the visible range due to the formation of Ti-O-N/Ti-N bonds. Single-angle SE is inadequate for extracting the optical constants of these films, as there are more unknowns (n, k, d) than measurable parameters (ψ, Δ). To overcome this limitation, we combined SE with transmission (T) measurements, a method known as SE + T. In the process, we developed an approach to prevent backside deposition on quartz substrates during ALD deposition. When applying a B-spline model to SE + T data, the film thicknesses on the quartz substrates closely matched those on companion Si samples measured via standard lithography. The resulting optical constants indicate a reduced refractive index, n, and increased extinction coefficient, k, when compared to purer TiO₂ thin films deposited via a physical vapor deposition (PVD) method, reflecting the influence of nitrogen incorporation on the optical properties.