Properties of titanium dioxide films prepared by reactive electron-beam evaporation from various starting materials.

There is a wide choice of starting materials for the production of titanium dioxide films by reactive electron-beam evaporation. We have investigated the specific merits of these materials in terms of refractive index, stress, and abrasion resistance of the resultant titanium dioxide films. The suboxides TiO, Ti2O3, and Ti3O5 as well as titanium dioxide and titanium metal were reactively evaporated, and titanium dioxide films free of absorption were obtained on substrates at 25 and 250 degrees C. On unheated substrates the refractive index, which varies from 2.06 to 2.22, the stress, and the abrasion resistance all depend on the starting material used. On substrates heated to 250 degrees C the refractive indices of all films lie closely about 2.4, and all films show high tensile stress and good abrasion resistance.