Surface properties and biocompatibility of nanostructured TiO2 film deposited by RF magnetron sputtering

Nanostructured TiO2 films are deposited on a silicon substrate using 150-W power from the RF magnetron sputtering at working pressures of 3 to 5 Pa, with no substrate bias, and at 3 Pa with a substrate bias of -50 V. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis reveals that TiO2 films deposited on unbiased as well as biased substrates are all amorphous. Surface properties such as surface roughness and wettability of TiO2 films, grown in a plasma environment, under biased and unbiased substrate conditions are reported according to the said parameters of RF power and the working pressures. Primary rat osteoblasts (MC3T3-E1) cells have been cultured on nanostructured TiO2 films fabricated at different conditions of substrate bias and working pressures. The effects of roughness and hydrophilicity of nanostructured TiO2 films on cell density and cell spreading have been discussed.