The Influence of the Power Supply of a Magnetron Sputtering System on the Properties of the Deposited TiO2 Films

Advantages of fabricating precision optical coatings by magnetron sputtering with a gas discharge powered from a medium-frequency current-variation supply unit are considered. The significance of selecting optimal characteristics and operating modes of the power supply sources of the magnetron sputtering system (MSS) for fabrication of high-quality optical coatings is justified. Using the developed magnetron sputtering facility that comprises a multimode power supply unit of the MSS, samples with thin TiO2 films were fabricated at different recurrence frequencies f(mag) of the current pulses transmitted to the MSS and under other identical sputtering conditions. The samples were tested by laser ellipsometry, atomic force microscopy, X-ray diffractometry, and X-ray reflectometry. The influence of f(mag) on the functional properties of the TiO2 films, namely, the refractive index, density, and roughness, is shown.