Titanium nitride is regarded as an alternative plasmonic material for its tunability and other high performances. In this work, we prepared \(\hbox {TiN}_{x}\) thin films by ion beam assisted deposition and studied the effects of assisting ion energy \(E_\mathrm{a}\) on the structural, electrical, optical, and plasmonic properties of the films. The results show that the bombardment of assisting ions causes higher crystallinity and higher resistivity. Both the experimental and fitting results show that assisting ions can improve the plasmonic performance of \(\hbox {TiN}_{x}\) thin films. Higher \(E_\mathrm{a}\) leads to lower carrier concentration, lower plasma frequency, and lower optical losses. With \(E_\mathrm{a}\) increasing, the energy loss function shifts toward low photon energy. Importantly, IBAD–\(\hbox {TiN}_{x}\) can serve as a promising plasmonic material in visible and near-IR region, and its plasmonic properties can be effectively tuned by assisting ions energy.

Highlights•ZnO:Nfilms were prepared with/without O2 pressure.•Microstructure, morphology, and optical properties of the films were investigated.•Different defects influence the structure and optical behavior of the films.•Band-gap is narrowed by increasing nitrogen substitute and oxygen vacancies.•N substitute, not N interstitial, is an effective factor narrowing band gap.Nitrogen doped ZnO films were prepared by magnetron sputtering. We studied the influence of nitrogen partial pressure pn and oxygen partial pressure po on the microstructure, morphology and optical properties of the thin films. The results show that different defects influence the structure and optical behavior of the films. Doping-related tensile stress turns compressive, owing to a different N-doping form in the films. Red-shift of absorption edge was observed with increasing pn and decreasing po. Band-gap narrowing is improved by increasing nitrogen substitute and oxygen vacancies.

Highlights•TiN thin films on glass substrates were prepared by ion-beam-deposition.•Effects of sputtering ion and assisting ion energy on the orientation were analyzed.•High assisting ions and assisting ion current could enhance the crystallinity.•Too high assisting ion energy and current can destroy the crystallinity•The results can be attributed to the energy exchange between assisting ions and adatoms.Ion beam assisted titanium nitride (TiN) film has attracted much attention because its fast texture and high conductivity can be effectively applied in all-conductive superconducting coated conductor. In this work, TiN films were prepared by ion beam sputtering deposition from a metal titanium target. Effects of sputtering ion energy, assisting ion energy, assisting ion current and deposition temperature on the orientation and surface morphology were analyzed. The results indicate that assisting ion is an important factor in orientation selection, and high assisting ions and low assisting ion current could enhance the crystallinity. However, too high assisting ion energy and current can destroy the crystallinity in IBAD–TiN. This orientation selection can be attributed to the energy exchange between assisting ions and adatoms.

Highlights•The plasmonic properties of IBAD-TiNx films can be tuned by N2 partial pressure pn and deposition temperature Td.•Lower pn and higher Td can enhance the plasma frequency.•The optical loss of the samples is influenced little by pn, but reduced obviously by higher Td.•The plasmon resonance is reduced by higher pn and lower Td.Titanium nitride (TiNx) is regarded as a kind of promising plasmonic material for its high performances. We studied the influence of nitrogen partial pressure pn and deposition temperature Td on the structural and plasmonic properties of the TiNx thin films prepared by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD). The results show that IBAD is an effective method to tailor the plasmonic properties of TiNx films in visible and near-IR region. The plasmonic properties of the films have significant Td and pn dependence. Higher pn and lower Td can reduce the plasma frequency and the plasmon resonance. Higher pn and higher Td can reduce the optical loss of the samples. The modification of the plasmonic properties is related to the variation of nitrogen content.

Undoped and Cu-doped ZnO (ZnO:Cu) thin films were prepared using magnetron co-sputtering. Effects of substrate temperature \(T_{s}\) on their structural, electrical and optical properties were comparatively investigated using X-ray diffraction, atom force microscopy, and ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer. ZnO:Cu thin films with different doping content were prepared and studied in order to investigate the effects of Cu-doping content. The results show that all the films exhibit a single phase (002)-oriented hexagonal wurtzite structure. Higher \(T_{s}\) enhances the crystallinity and reduces the compressive stress of the films. Cu-doping and increasing \(T_{s}\) lead to rougher surface and larger granules. The resistivity of both the ZnO and ZnO:Cu films increases with \(T_{s}\). Interestingly, optical band gap \(E_{g}\) of ZnO:Cu films increases significantly with \(T_{s}\), while \(E_{g}\) of undoped film is not obviously influenced by \(T_{s}\). Cu-doping content is an important factor affecting the physical properties of ZnO:Cu thin films. In our experiments, Cu-doping composition sightly decreases with \(T_{s}\) increasing. Cu-doping reduces the resistivity, leads to the red-shift of absorption edge, and narrows \(E_{g}\) of ZnO thin films.

Highlights•This work was focused on heavy Cu-doping ZnO films prepared by magnetron co-sputtering.•Moderate Cu-doping can enhance the crystal grain size of the films, but excessive doping can inhabit it.•The fluorescence quenching effect and the red shift phenomenon resulting from Cu-doping are more significant at heavy doping level.•The band gap narrowing effect is more sensitive to doping content in heavily doping region.•A promising band gap reduction of 0.64 eV was achieved at 23.8% doping level.Cu-doping can modulate the properties of ZnO thin films. Most previous researchers studied ZnO:Cu films with moderate doping level, while this work was focused on heavy Cu-doping (13–23.8%) effect on ZnO thin films prepared by magnetron co-sputtering. The microstructure and optical properties of the films were systematically investigated. The results show that moderate Cu-doping enhances the crystal grain size of the films, whereas heavy doping reduces it. The fluorescence quenching effect, the red shift phenomenon and the band gap narrowing effect in emission and absorption characteristics resulting from Cu-doping are more significant at heavy doping level. A promising band gap reduction of 0.64 eV was achieved at 23.8% doping level.

A previously found orientation competition in ion beam sputtered yttria-stabilized zirconia thin films was studied in detail. The effects of sputtering energy and deposition angle were analyzed in ion sputtered films without assisting ions bombardment. It is found that for normally deposited films, (001) and (011) orientations are favored at low and high sputtering energy respectively. For inclined substrate deposited films, as deposition angle increases, (001), (011) and (111) orientations are advantaged in turn. The results can be attributed to the in-plane energy exchange of deposition atom and adatoms. In ion beam assisting deposited YSZ films of low assisting ions energy and current, a (001) oriented biaxial texture is gradually induced as ion energy increased. In the case of ion beam assisted inclined deposition of 45°, (001) orientation is enhanced and two preferential in-plane orientations are found coexist.

High quality biaxially textured yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) thin films, as buffer layers of coated conductors, were deposited on hastelloy substrates by ion beam assisted deposition (IBAD) method with different assisting ion energy Ei. The roles of assisting ion beam and the influences of ion energy Ei on the structure of the films were studied. It was found that both the out-of-plane alignment and in-plane texture of the IBAD-YSZ films are sensitive to the variation of Ei. The results are explained in the paper by different damage tolerance of the differently oriented grains to ion bombardment.