Correlation between stoichiometry and properties of scandium oxide films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering

Scandium oxide films were deposited on fused silica substrates by reactive pulsed DC magnetron sputtering. The use of feed-back optical emission monitoring enabled high-rate reactive deposition of films with tunable stoichiometry and properties. The under-stoichiometric, stoichiometric and over-stoichiometric scandium oxide films were prepared. The compressive stress in films was between 235 and 530 MPa. We showed that phase structure, density, surface roughness and optical properties of the scandium oxide are affected by the film stoichiometry and deposition conditions. Transparent scandium oxide films were slightly hydrophobic (94 +/- 3 degrees), homogeneous with a crystallite size of 20 +/- 5 nm. The lowest extinction coefficient 0.7 x 10(-3), the highest refractive index 2.08 (both quantities at the wavelength of 355 nm) and the highest density 4.1 +/- 0.1 g cm(-3) exhibited film prepared with the stoichiometric composition. Stoichiometric scandium oxide can be used in various optical applications as high refractive index and wide bandgap material. Transitions to under- or over-stoichiometry lead to a decrease of film density, refractive index and increase of the extinction coefficient. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.