Features of and in situ measurements on absorbing TiO sub / x/ films produced by reactive dc magnetron-plasmatron sputtering

Use of dc magnetron-plasmatron discharge allows direct production of TiO sub / x/ films with an O:Ti atomic ratio x = 0- 2 by varying the pO sub / 2/ pressure of an Ar-O sub / 2/ gas mixture. This method ensures reproducibility of the refractive index of TiO sub / 2/ films for dielectric multilayer stacks and gives absorbing TiO sub / x/ films with defined stoichiometries consistent with requirements for simple solar absorber systems.