The interdependence of structural and electrical properties in TiO2/TiO/Ti periodic multilayers

16 Multilayered structures with 14 to 50 nm periods composed of titanium and two different 17 titanium oxides, TiO and TiO2, were accurately produced by DC magnetron sputtering 18 using the reactive gas pulsing process (RGPP). Structure and composition of these 19 periodic TiO2/TiO/Ti stacks were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and 20 transmission electronic microscope (TEM) techniques. Two crystalline phases hcp-Ti 21 and fcc-TiO were identified in the metallic-rich sub-layers whereas the oxygen-rich ones 22 were made of a mixture of amorphous TiO2 and rutile phase. DC electrical resistivity ρ 23 measured for temperatures ranking from 300 to 500 K exhibited a metallic-like 24 behaviour (ρ473K = 1.05×10-5 to 1.45×10-6 Ω m) with a temperature coefficient of 25 resistance (TCR) ranging from 1.20×10-3 K for the highest period Λ = 50.0 nm down to 26