The effect of thickness on the properties of titanium films deposited by dc magnetron sputtering

Titanium (Ti) films of thickness in the range of 101–254 nm were prepared onto glass and silicon substrates by direct current magnetron sputtering method. The effect of thickness on the electrical, structural, optical and surface properties of the films was studied. The room temperature sheet resistance decreased from 14.3 to 3.6 Ω/□ and the temperature coefficient of resistance value increased from 0.14 to 0.20% K−1 with increase in the thickness of the film. The optical and surface composition characteristics of the films were least influenced by the thickness. The films of all thickness exhibited hexagonal closed packed crystalline structure with predominant (0 0 2) crystallite orientation and an additional (1 0 0) orientation particularly in the films of thickness in the range of 153–205 nm. The average particle size in the films varied from 9 to 40 nm with the thickness.