Growth Morphology and Structure Peculiarities of Superthin Titanium Films

Superthin titanium films of 0.3 to 2 nm thickness, prepared by radio-frequency sputtering, have been studied by modem X-ray methods, such as reflectometry, fluorescent analysis and grasing-beam structural analysis. Two simple models were used to describe early stages of film growth. It has been shown that the thinnest titanium films were the TiO 2 islands with an equal height. Thicker films could be described as bilayers Ti/TiO 2 . The films became continuous already near 1.5 nm effective thickness