title: Nanoscale colour control: W-O graded coatings deposited by magnetron sputtering.
abstract: A new design of decorative tungsten oxide coatings is presented. The coatings were deposited with a graded refractive index by magnetron sputtering from a tungsten target and pulsing the reactive gas. The controlled injection of the reactive gas can produce a concentration profile gradient from pure tungsten to tungsten trioxide, determining the final apparent colour of the coating. A dynamic sputtering model was built to simulate the growth of the coating during the reactive gas pulsing which was validated by direct measurement of the gradient of the oxygen content in the deposited coatings. Finally, these results were used for an optical model allowing the optical properties of the deposited tungsten oxide layer to be described, again validated by experimental analysis. This procedure allows the deposition of coatings with the desired colour by using the models to finding the optimal oxygen pulse parameters. This proposed method can be easily applied to almost any metal/metal oxide system.
authors.affiliation: Department of Control Engineering, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Technická 2, Prague 6, Czech Republic. SEG-CEMUC-Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Coimbra, Rua Luís Reis Santos, P-3030 788 Coimbra, Portugal.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Polcar
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kubart
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Malainho
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vasilevskiy
authors.forename: N M G
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Parreira
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cavaleiro