2
double layers antireection coating with
photocatalytic property prepared by magnetron sputtering technique
Zhaoyong Wang
a, b
, Ning Yao
a, *
, Xing Hu
a
a
School of Physical Engineering and Laboratory of Material Physics, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450052, People's Republic of China
b
School of Mathematics and Physics, Henan Urban Construction University, Pingdingshan 467036, People's Republic of China
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 24 March 2014
Received in revised form
12 May 2014
Accepted 13 May 2014
Available online 23 May 2014
Keywords:
Antireection
Photocatalysis
EFMS technique
a b s t r a c t
Single material TiO
2
was used to fabricate the double layers antireection coating with photocatalytic
property. TiO
2
layers with lowand high refractive indices were prepared by the direct reactive magnetron
sputtering technique and energy ltrating magnetron sputtering technique, respectively. The structure,
surface morphology and optical property were tested by X-ray diffraction, eld emission scanning electron
microscope and spectroscopic ellipsometer. The photocatalytic property of the coating was evaluated by
UVevis spectrophotometer. Results suggested that the coating had both antireective and photocatalytic
performances. The refractive indices of the top and bottom TiO
2
layers were 2.10 and 2.47 (at 600 nm),
respectively. The average and max transmissivities were obtained of 88.4% and 98.9% in the wavelength
range of 400e800 nm and the degradation rate on Rhodamine B was obtained of 0.0034 min
1
.
2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
TiO
2
has been studied comprehensively because it is non-toxic,
convenient to be obtained and easy to be doped by other materials.
It has many excellent performances such as high energy gap, high
refractive index, high electric inductivity and good chemical stability
[1e3]. There are three kinds of TiO
2
including anatase, rutile and
brookite [4], while the anatase and rutile TiO
2
are more widely
studied and utilized for their better optical and structural properties.
Anatase TiO
2
is commonly used as the photocatalytic materials for
the high band gap. Also some researchers reported that the hybrid of
anatase and rutile TiO
2
had better photocatalytic performance [5].
Since the discovery of photo stimulated water splitting on the TiO
2
electrodes in 1972 [9], the application of TiO
2
in the photocatalytic
technologyandmethodhave beeninvestigated[6e8]. However, TiO
2
coating with high transmissivity should also be provided in cir-
cumstances such as the application in architectural glass and glass
cover for solar cells. Therefore double functional coating with bothof
self-cleaning and antireective properties is required. Anatase TiO
2
was not usually used as the surface layer for the large scattering
losing due to the high refractive index (n 2.52) [10]. Some re-
searchers have managed to fabricate the double functional coating
[11e16]. The antireective andself-cleaningproperties were realized
by the low refractive index material and anatase TiO
2
. But two dis-
advantages exist inthe fabricating process. The rst one is that lattice
distortion for the different material will be induced during the
annealing. And the second one is that the surface modication pro-
cess is complicated. TiO
2
lm can be prepared by several methods
such as chemical vapor deposition (CVD), dealloying and anodic
oxidation, Sol-Gel, radio fraction magnetron sputtering (RFMS) and
direct current reactive magnetron sputtering (DMS) [17e21].
Compared with other methods, DMS technique was used to prepare
TiO
2
lms in our experiment for its special advantages that the
deposition parameters are stable, easy to control and high quality
lmwith uniform distributions can be deposited in fast speed.
Double layers antireection coating is commonly selected over
single layer because two maximum can be achieved in the trans-
mission spectrum. Furthermore the optical performance of the
coating is less sensitive to the variations of the refractive index and
layer thickness [22].
In this paper, single material double layers coating was fabri-
cated by the well-matched individual TiO
2
layers with lowand high
refractive indices. Anatase TiO
2
with low refractive was fabricated
by the DMS technique. TiO
2
with high refractive index was pre-
pared by the energy ltrated magnetron sputtering (EFMS) tech-
nique. Both the double functional properties of antireection and
photocatalysis were investigated.
* Corresponding author. Tel.: 86 371 67767832.
E-mail address: yaoning@zzu.edu.cn (N. Yao).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Vacuum
j ournal homepage: www. el sevi er. com/ l ocat e/ vacuum
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.vacuum.2014.05.009
0042-207X/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Vacuum 108 (2014) 20e26
2. Experiments
2.1. Material preparation
The glass substrates were primarily cleaned before deposition.
Sequentially they were soaked in the KMnO
4
solution (40 g/l) for
4 h, and then were ultrasonic cleaned in proper order with the
detergent solution, de-ionized water, acetone, de-ionized water,
isopropyl alcohol and de-ionized water. Finally the substrates were
dried in the oven.
Home made CS-300 DMS system was used to fabricate the
TiO
2
lms on the substrates. Ti target (180 60 6 mm
3
, purity
99.99%) and the substrate with 70 mm-distance between them
were set as the cathode and anode. The base pressure of below
5.0 10
4
Pa was realized by the mechanical pump and molec-
ular pump. As the substrates were heated to the given temper-
ature, high-purity gas Ar (purity 99.999%) was introduced into
the chamber. Ar plasma was generated by the electric eld
applied between the target and substrate. After the surface of the
target was puried by the bombardment of Ar
_
cos d
L
i=n
L
sin d
L
in
L
sin d
L
cos d
L
__
cos d
H
i=n
H
sin d
H
in
H
sin d
H
cos d
H
__
1
n
g
_
(1)
where n
0
, n
L
and n
H
represent the refractive indices of the air, low
refractive index and high refractive index of the TiO
2
lms,
respectively. d is the phase thickness and can be described by
d (2p/l)nd for the normal incidence. Y given by Eq. (2) represents
the admittance of the lm-substrate assembly.
For the normal incidence and equal phase thickness layers
(n
H
d
H
n
L
d
L
l
0
/4), the reectance (R) at the wavelength l
0
turns
into Eq. (3).
R
_
n
0
Y
n
0
Y
_
2
_
n
0
n
2
L
_
n
H
n
0
n
2
L
_
n
H
_
2
(3)
Provided that there is no light absorption or scattering occurring
in the optical process, the relation of transmission (T) and R can be
described as Eq. (4).
T 1 R (4)
In order to obtain the maximum T (R minimum), the low and
high refractive indices should satisfy the following relation.
n
H
n
L
n
g
_
n
0
_
(5)
W-shipped (l
0
/4l
0
/2) antireection coating is designed to
smooth the transmission property of the coating [22]. The param-
eters of the optical layers are optimized by TFCalc thin lm design
software so that the highest calculation transmission curve can
achieve.
2.3. Material characterization
X-ray diffraction (XRD, PANational X'Pert Pro) was used to
determine the structure of the TiO
2
lms. The eld emission
scanning electron microscope (FESEM, JSM 6700F) was used to
observe the surface morphologies.
V-Vase spectroscopic ellipsometer (Vase 32) was used to
examine the optical property (incident angles 55
n
g
cos d
L
cos d
H
n
L
n
g
sin d
L
sin d
H
_
n
H
in
L
sin d
L
cos d
H
n
H
cos d
L
sin d
H
cos d
L
cos d
H
n
H
sin d
L
sin d
H
_
n
L
i
_
n
g
sin d
L
cos d
H
_
n
H
n
g
cos d
L
sin d
H
_
n
L
_ (2)
Z. Wang et al. / Vacuum 108 (2014) 20e26 21
350e1000 nm). The arguments J and D measured by the spec-
troscopic ellipsometer rely tightly on the parameters of the lm
that can be described as follows.
r
_
n
0
; n
f
; n
s
; f
0
; d; l
_
tanJe
iD
(6)
where n
0
is the refractive index of the air, n
f
and n
s
are the refractive
indices of the lm and the substrate. F
0
is the incidence angle, l is
the wavelength and d is the physical thickness.
The surface roughness, thickness and optical property of the
lm can be obtained by inverting the experimental data with the
basis on the established optical model. The model is composed of
a Bruggeman effective medium approximation (EMA) layer, a
dense TiO
2
layer and the glass substrate. The EMA layer con-
taining 50% TiO
2
and 50% void is used to model the surface
roughness. Cauchy model [25] described in Eq. (7) is used to t
the experimental data.
nl A
B
l
2
C
l
4
; kl b exp
_
g
_
1
l
1
L
__
(7)
where n is the refractive index, k is the extinction coefcient. A, B, C,
b, g and L are the model parameters.
The UVevis spectrophotometer (UV-300, Shimadzu Japan)
equipped with an ultraviolet analyzer (ZF-1, HangZhou China) was
used to examine the photocatalytic performance of the coating by
determining the changing of the solution concentration repre-
sented by the maximum absorbance at 550 nm 10 ml RhB solution
(20 mg/L, pH 6) was breathed into the beaker with the coating
(20 20 mm
2
) in the bottom. After the adsorption/desorption
equilibrium in the dark for 2 h, the coating was irradiated by the
ultraviolet lamp (12 w, 365 nm) with a distance of 150 mm away
from the coating surface.
The degradation of RhB under the illuminant by the TiO
2
lm
obeys pseudo-rst order kinetics [26]. The degradation rate K is
obtained by plotting the relationship of ln(c/c
0
) versus t, which
represents the photocatalytic performance of the coating. c and c
0
are the concentrations of RhB solution after being irritated for t and
at the initial state.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Structural and optical properties of TiO
2
lms deposited by the
DMS technique
Fig. 3 shows the XRD patterns of the TiO
2
lms prepared at
different temperature. The lms were deposited for 90 min. The
deposition pressure was 0.75 Pa and the deposition current was
maintained at 1 A. The ows of O
2
and Ar were regulated at 6 sccm
and 36 sccm. It is observed that the lms exhibit standard anatase
diffraction curves [27] except the lm deposited at room
temperature.
TiO
2
lms prepared at the temperature of above 100
C present
polycrystalline anatase phase (described as A) with several crystal
orientations and the priority growth orientation of the lms is A
(101). It can be observed that the sequence of the crystallinity fol-
lows d > c > e > b. The crystallinity of the lmdeposited at 300
C is
the best. As is known, the crystallinity is closely correlated with the
deposition particles kinetic energy and the substrate temperature.
Particles with similar kinetic energy are generated at the same
deposition parameters. And the migrate ability of the particles in-
crease with the rising of the substrate temperature. Films deposited
at lower substrate temperature such as 100
C and 200
C have
worse crystallinities for the weaker migration energy. At the higher
temperature (400
C), poor crystallinity is induced for the faster
gathered speed for the deposition particles. The crystal sizes of
lms deposited at 100
C, 200
C, 300
C and 400
C are calculated
of 15.5 nm, 16.4 nm, 14.3 nm and 17.6 nm from Scherrer equation
D Kl/Bcosq, in which D is the crystal size, K is a constant (0.89)
and l is the wavelength of CuKa (1.54 ), B is the full-width at half-
maximum (FWHM) and q is the diffraction angle.
The thicknesses of the lms are obtained by the tted spectro-
scopic ellipsometry data. The depositing rates and thicknesses are
presented in Table 1. It can be observed that the lm deposited at
100
C presents the lowest depositing rate. With the increasing of
the temperature, the depositing rate increases to the highest
(4.8 nm min
1
) at 300
C and decreases at 400
C.
Fig. 4 shows the refraction indices of the lms deposited at
different temperature. The highest refractive index obtained at
400
C ranges from 2.97 to 2.34 in the wavelength range of
350e1000 nm. And the lowest refractive index acquired at 100
C
varies from 2.77 to 2.24 (within 350e1000 nm). The refractive in-
dex of the TiO
2
lm increases with the rising of the substrate
temperature. A substantial increase is presented at the temperature
of below 300
C. While smaller amplication of the refractive
indices is illustrated at the substrate temperature of between
300
C and 400
C. The relationship of the refractive index with the
density (r) can be described as follows [28].
n rn
s
1 rn
v
(8)
where n
s
and n
v
are the refractive indices of the solid and the void
part of the lm. It can be concluded that n increases with r. The
migration energy of the deposition particles is determined by the
substrate temperature. More particles connect together at higher
temperature, which induces higher density with fewer voids. The
refractive index increases greatly with the rising of the substrate
temperature up to 300
C for the incremental migration energy
while there is little difference in the migrate ability at higher
temperature. The near result was reported by Y.Q. Hou et al. [29].
As is observed in Figs. 3 and 4, anatase TiO
2
lmwith the lowest
refractive index is deposited at 100
C. Fig. 5 illustrates the
dispersive relations of the lms deposited at 100
C at different
deposition pressure. The refractive index decreases with the
increasing of the deposition pressure. The highest refractive index
appears at 0.3 Pa with the variation range of 3.02e2.33
(350e1000 nm). The lowest refractive index emerges at 3.0 Pa with
the variation range of 2.48e1.96. The refractive index reduces
greatly at the pressure of over 0.75 Pa while little alteration pre-
sents at the pressure from 0.3 Pa to 0.75 Pa. The regular pattern of
Fig. 3. XRD patterns of TiO
2
lms deposited at different temperature.
Z. Wang et al. / Vacuum 108 (2014) 20e26 22
the refractive index can be explained by the deposition process in
the DMS technique. As the deposition pressure increases, many
particles are introduced into the chamber and the mean free path
decreases for the increased collisions frequency. The kinetic energy
of deposition particles also decreases due to the increased colli-
sions, which induce a worse combining ability. On the other hand,
the discharge current is a function of electron with its density and
average electron temperature that can be described as
I n
e
1.7
1
(kT
e
)
1/2
. According to the quasi-neutrality condition, n
e
is
approximately equal with n
Ar
which is proportional to the density
of neutral Ar. So n
e
is proportional to the deposition pressure. In our
experiment the current was maintained at 1 A, and n
e
increases
with the decline of T
e
. As a result, the energy being transported to
the substrate decreases and the migration ability becomes poor. So
the refractive index decreases for the weaker crystallization as the
deposition pressure increased. But the refractive index changes
little at low pressure of below 0.75 Pa. This is due to the mean free
path that is comparable to the target-substance distance [30].
It is discovered from Table 1 that the depositing rate decreases
as the deposition pressure increases. The highest depositing rate
(3.8 nm min
1
) is obtained at 0.3 Pa and the lowest depositing of
3.0 nm min
1
is generated at 3.0 Pa. According to the above anal-
ysis, the declination of the depositing rate is mainly due to the
shortened free path of the deposition particles.
According to the structural and optical properties of the TiO
2
lms deposited at different deposition parameters, anatase TiO
2
lm with the lowest refractive index is deposited at 100
C and
3.0 Pa.
3.2. Structural and optical properties of TiO
2
lms deposited by the
EFMS technique
In order to avoid mis-match of the crystal lattice in the prepara-
tion of the double layers coating, TiO
2
lmwith high refractive index
was deposited at the same substrate temperature by the EFMS
technique. The pressure of 0.75 Pa was chosen as the deposition
pressure for the considerationof theresults beingillustratedbyFig. 5.
Fig. 6 illustrates the structure and refraction indices of TiO
2
lms
deposited by the EFMS technique in which ve kinds of grids with
different mesh(the numbers of holes per inch) are used. All the lms
were depositedat almost 120nmbycontrolling the depositiontime.
FromFig. 6(a) we candiscover that all the lms are well fabricated of
anatase phasewiththe same preferredgrowthorientationat A(101)
and there are no obvious difference in the curves, which indicates
that the crystallinities are similar. It is observed from Fig. 6(b) that
the refractive index increases with the increasing of the mesh
number. TiO
2
lm deposited at 460 mesh has the highest refractive
indexrangingfrom3.11to2.37(350e1000nm). Theenergyltrating
electrode plays the key role in inuencing the structural and optical
properties of the fabricated lm. Being connected with the anode,
the energy ltrating electrode absorb high energy ions including O
anions and secondary electrons, which forms the results that both
the overall ux of particles and the bombardment on the substrate
reduce. The deposition particles with uniform kenotic energy in
smaller incident angle can be produced by colliding with the l-
trating electrode. Mean while, the energy ux from positive argon
ions reaching the substrate can be reduced for the reduced or
eliminated anode sheath in front of the substrate by the ltrating
electrode. All the reasons mentioned above provide more time and
lower migrating energy for the deposition particles diffusing and
gathering on the substrate surface. Thus lm containing smaller
particles is fabricated in higher density with higher refractive index
for the ltrating electrode. Our previous work reported that ITOlm
deposited by the EFMS technique had smoother surface with
compact structure [23]. Filtrating electrode with larger mesh num-
ber causes deeper inuence on properties of the deposited lm.
It is observed in Table 1 that the depositing rates drop dramat-
ically with the increasing of the mesh number. The depositing rate
ranges from 2.3 nm min
1
to 0.7 nm min
1
with the increasing of
the mesh number.
Table 1
Depositing rates and thicknesses of the TiO
2
lms.
DMS technique (90 min) EFMS technique
Temperature (