If you are using DC or pulsed DC sputtering, you are limited to 'conducting materials' and alloys. For sputtering of non-conductives you can use RF sputtering or Electron Beam Evapouration methods.

I have been using magnetron sputtering systems for around 4 years now and am fairly knowledgeable in the subject, especially regarding base pressures, sputtering pressures, mean free path, sputtering rates (different materials sputer at varying rate depending upon vapour pressure of each); rotary pumps, turbo-molecular pumps and diffusion pumps.

If you need any help please just ask.

thanks for your comment Christopher

i'm using magnetron sputtering systems (dc, rf, balanced, unbalanced) for more than 8 years. My question has to do about the material combination... not the technique itself. I start with TiO2 thin film and i wanted to know if there is any other suggestion, as i'm open to new materials.

Are you planning to produce multilayers ?

You can vary composition of your film if you use 2 seperate sources, i.e. to make TiO2 films you could either use a TiO2 target (but here the composition of the film would be similar to the target itself) - you could also use a DC pulsed method using a Titanium target, then using Oxygen as your sputtering gas, to vary the composition of each film.

If you want to do multilayers, it depends on what type of test you want to do afterwards, for TEM work, you must keep the multilayer under 120nm for it to be viewable (even in a 300 KV TEM). Another way to do this is to grow the film on thin slices of NaCl; then to float the film off in water (as the NaCl dissolves.)

I suppose it just depends what you are actually trying to achieve with your materials.

i'm thinking of single layer films and yes, i'm going to use Ti target, rf reactive magnetron sputterring with O abient gas

Would be interesting if you have a heating stage for your substrate. A colleague of mine used to work with Titanium-Oxides, but the Magnelli phases such as Ti4O7 and Ti5O9 (but you can only make these at very high temperatures, 1500 C and above) but they are very interesting materials as they are a rare breed of electrically conductive oxides, I'm not sure about TiO2 though.

Christopher, thanks for your useful comments !