Conductor Formation Through Phase Transformation in Ti-Oxide Thin Films

Abstract

The resistance and transmittance of Ti-oxide thin films sputtered on quartz substrates were studied. The electrical and optical properties can be changed by varying the percentage of O 2 introduced during the sputtering. The lowest resistivity for the sputtered Ti-oxide thin film was 2.30 9 10 À2 X cm for 12.5% O 2 , which was obtained after annealing at 400°C in ambient oxygen. The results of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) curve-fitting indicate that annealed Ti-oxide thin films. The transmittance of the annealed Ti-oxide thin films can be as high as approximately 90% at the 400 nm wavelength with the introduction of 16.5% O 2 . This result indicates that the annealed Ti-oxide thin films are excellent candidates for use as transparent conducting layers for ultraviolet (UV) or near-UV light-emitting diode (LED) devices.