Rutherford backscattering analysis of porous thin TiO2 films

The additional energy spread due to sample porosity was implemented in the SIMNRA simulation code, version 6.60 and higher. Deviations of the path length and energy loss distributions from the ones expected from a Poisson distribution of the number of traversed pores are taken into account. These deviations are due to the interaction of pores at higher pore concentrations by overlap or blocking. The skewnesses of the energy distributions are approximated by two-piece normal distributions with identical first three moments. Propagation of porosity-induced energy spread in thick layers is taken into account. Calculated results are compared to experimental data obtained with thin TiO2 mesoporous films measured by Rutherford backscattering (RBS),transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and atmospheric poroellipsometry.