Application of the Berreman Effect to the Characterization of TiO2 Thin Layers Formed onto Titanium Substrates

Diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFT) with polarized radiation is employed to characterize TiO2 thin films thermally grown on Ti substrates, which exhibit the so-called Berreman effect. The DRIFT analysis of thin films in the context of the Berreman effect is simple and fast, and allows the identification of the crystalline/amorphous structure of TiO2 thin layers even in the presence of other coatings, such as hydroxyapatite deposits, on top of the titanium oxide films.