Structure, morphology and optical properties of SiO2−x thin films prepared by plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition

The amorphous silicon oxide SiO2−x thin films were prepared by the plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method. X-ray diffraction spectrometry (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), UV-VIS-NIR scanning spectrophotometry and ellipsometry were used to characterize the crystallinity, microscopic morphology and optical properties of obtained thin films. The influences of substrate temperatures, oxygen partial pressures and oxygen plasma assistance on the compositions of silicon oxide (SiO2−x) thin films were investigated. Results show that the deposited thin films are amorphous and have high surface quality. Stoichiometric silicon dioxide (SiO2) thin film can be obtained at elevated temperature of 200 °C in an oxygen plasma-assisted atmosphere. Using normal incidence transmittance, a novel and simple method has been proposed to evaluate the value of x in transparent SiO2−x thin films on a non-absorbing flat substrate.