Optical properties of thin films of mixed Ni-W oxide made by reactive DC magnetron sputtering

Thin films of NixW1-x oxides with x = 0.05, 0.19, 0.43 and 0.90 were studied. Films with thicknesses in the range 125-250 nm were deposited on silicon wafers at room temperature by reactive DC magnetron co-sputtering from targets of Ni and W. The films were characterized with X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). XRD spectra and SEM micrographs showed that all films were amorphous and possessed a columnar structure. The ellipsometric angles psi and Delta of as-deposited films were measured by a rotating analyzer ellipsometer in the UV-visible-near infrared range (0.63-6.18 eV) and by an infrared Fourier transform rotating compensator ellipsometer in the 500-5200 cm(-1) wavenumber range. SE measurements were performed at angles of incidence of from 50 degrees to 70 degrees. Parametric models were used to extract thicknesses of the thin films and overlayers of NixW1-x oxide at different compositions, band gaps and optical constants. Features in the optical spectra of the NixW1-x oxides were compared with previous data on tungsten oxide, nickel oxide and nickel tungstate.