Low-temperature stabilization of rutile in W-doped Titania thin films deposited by magnetron Co-Sputtering.

• The co-sputtering technique was key to achieve the doping of TiO2 with tungsten. • Tungsten doping stabilizes rutile at 500 °C. • The preferred orientation of the rutile changes from the plane (1 0 1) to the plane (1 1 0) • The synthesis process provides low surface roughness and nanometric particle size. Tungsten doped Titania thin films were sputtered on a silicon substrate by magnetron co-sputtering. The influence of tungsten on Vickers hardness and crystallographic changes was studied in films subjected to stepped annealing treatments. Rutile is the dominant phase with crystallite size ∼ 10 nm after 500 °C annealing. The films , doped with 1.79 % W, exhibit the highest hardness (20.88 GPa), a rutile-anatase mixture (80:20) and a preferential shift in crystallographic orientation from (1 0 1) to (1 1 0). The homogeneous distribution of tungsten in TiO 2 stabilizes rutile at 500 °C, providing an innovative and simple strategy for its synthesis, thus expanding the options for substrate materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]