Formation and electronic structure of TiO2–AgTiO2–Ag interface

In the present work the formation of the interface between polycrystalline silver and thin films of titanium oxide was studied with photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS, UPS) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). Titanium oxide was deposited stepwise on 100 nm thick silver films by reactive magnetron sputtering allowing to study the evolution of the interface formation process. The process involves two steps: formation of thin layer of silver oxide and subsequent growth of the TiO2TiO2 film. For better understanding of the silver oxidation process, pure silver films were exposed to a low temperature Ar/O plasma for different time intervals providing a possibility to investigate early stages of the oxide film growth.