COMPARATIVE-STUDY OF TITANIUM-DIOXIDE THIN-FILMS PRODUCED BY ELECTRON-BEAM EVAPORATION AND BY REACTIVE LOW-VOLTAGE ION PLATING

Titanium dioxide (TiO2) is often used as a high refractive-index mater ial for multilayer optical coatings. However, the optical properties o f TiO2 films depend strongly on the deposition process and its paramet ers. A comparative study of TiO2 films fabricated by conventional elec tron-beam evaporation and by reactive low-voltage ion plating that use s different phases of Ti-O as starting materials is reported. Results on the variability of TiO2 thin films are analyzed in relation to proc ess parameters. The potential of fabricating high and low refractive-i ndex multilayer stacks with TiO2 only, by employing two different depo sition processes, is presented with a practical example.