Phase evolution with the film thickness in PLD-grown titanium oxides films.

Titanium oxides exhibit an intriguing structure-property correlation, due to the variable valence character of titanium ion. Here we report the growth and characterization of the superconducting binary Ti–O films. The films were grown by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique on the α-Al 2 O 3 substrates, through ablating Ti 2 O 3. It is found that, with the increase of the film thickness, the film reveals a phase evolution from the cubic TiO phase to the orthogonal Ti 2 O 3 phase. Meanwhile, the magnitude of resistivity and the superconducting transition temperature T c of these films also show the systematic variation with the increase of the film thickness. • With the increase of film thickness, a phase evolution from the cubic TiO phase to the orthogonal Ti 2 O 3 phase is revealed. • The superconducting transition temperature has a close correlation with the normal state properties. • A phase diagram as a function of the film thickness is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]