Optical and Microstructural Properties of Sol-Gel TiOxNy Thin Films

Titanium oxynitride thin films were deposited by sol-gel method on quartz substrate in an attempt to study the microstructural and optical properties of TiO
_x
N
_y
films deposited by sol-gel method. For this purpose, X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE) investigations were performed. Examining the surface morphology and grain sizes of the films, complex nanostructured surfaces, with a mean cluster size in the range of 20-30 nm were obtained in connection with the preparation method. Regarding their optical properties, it was found a decrease of the optical band gap of N-doped TiO
₂
films down to the visible range.