Influence of thermal annealing on the structure and optical properties of d.c. magnetron sputtered titanium dioxide thin films

Abstract

Titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) thin films were deposited on glass substrate by d.c. magnetron sputtering at 200• C substrate temperature. The thicknesses of the films were measured using stylus type profilometer. The deposited films were annealed using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) system in the O 2 ambient for 20 min at 400 and 500• C. Influence of Ar/O 2 flux ratio and annealing temperature on structural and optical properties of the samples was analyzed using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and UV-vis spectrometer in the range of 200-1100 nm. The films annealed above 400• C were crystalline with anatase phase, whereas at the as-deposited states, the films were amorphous. Optical properties such as band gap, refractive index and absorption coefficient were calculated using transmittance spectra of the samples. The influence of thermal annealing on structure and optical properties is discussed. Band gap energies of the TiO 2 films were also determined using photoluminescence(PL) measurements.

TiO2−x films for bolometer applications: recent progress and perspectives

“…High-temperature annealing was carried out in an oxygen environment to reduce the oxygen vacancy in Nb: TiO 2−x [32,64]. Oxygen atoms could diffuse into the film at high temperatures and occupy oxygen vacancies [65][66][67]. The diffusion mechanism of oxygen during annealing in the oxygen atmosphere is exhibited in figure 14(a).…”

Effect of annealing temperature on the structural, optical, morphological, and photocatalytic properties of TiO2 thin films prepared by sol-gel spin-coating and electron beam physical vapor deposition

“…Wang et al showed that rutile crystalline phases also possess photocatalytic ability [13]. The crystalline phase transformation, crystalline size, and photocatalytic changes of TiO 2 during the annealing process are also different for TiO 2 prepared by different preparation methods [7,[14][15][16]. Therefore, a comparison of the physical structural, optical, and photocatalytic properties of TiO 2 thin films prepared by different preparation methods during the annealing process needs to be further investigated.…”

Improvement of the thermal stability of Nb:TiO2−xsamples for uncooled infrared detectors

“…To further reduce the oxygen vacancies in the Nb:TiO 2−x sample, high-temperature annealing has been carried out in an oxygen atmosphere [20,21]. Since, in this case, the oxygen atoms can diffuse into the film and occupy the positions of oxygen vacancies, given that, in the traditional vacancy model, diffusion is easily achieved by an adjacent oxygen ion jumping into a vacant site [22][23][24][25]. The proposed oxygen diffusion mechanism through the annealing process in the oxygen atmosphere is depicted in figure 1.…”