Investigation of structural, optical and micro-mechanical properties of (NdyTi1-y)O-x thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering

TiO2 and (Nd(y)Tt(1-y))O-x thin films were deposited by reactive magnetron sputtering process from mosaic Ti-Nd targets and characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman optical spectroscopy and nanoindentation technique. XRD measurements revealed that as-prepared titanium dioxide and TiO2 thin films with 4 and 7 at.% of Ncl had nanocrystalline futile structure, while coatings with larger amount of Ncl were amorphous. Raman spectroscopy investigations showed that the increase of the neodymium concentration caused amorphisation of the coatings and hindered their crystal growth. All as-prepared coatings were transparent in the visible wavelength range with a transmittance of approximately 80%. The refractive index and extinction coefficient of the thin films gradually decreased with the increase of the neodymium concentration. Micro-mechanical properties, i.e. hardness and elastic modulus, were determined using traditional load-controlled nanoindentation testing and continuous stiffness measurements. The highest hardness and elastic modulus values were obtained for thin films with 7 at.% of Nd and were approximately 14.8 GPa and 166.3 GPa, respectively. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved,