Influence of annealing temperature on the properties of TiO₂ films annealed by ex situ and in situ TEM

Abstract

TiO₂ thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by DC reactive magnetron sputtering of a pure Ti target in Ar/O₂ plasma at room temperature. The TiO₂ films were annealed at different temperatures ranging from 300 to 800 °C in a tube furnace under flowing oxygen gas for half an hour each. The effect of annealing temperatures on the structure, optical properties, and morphologies were presented and discussed by using X-ray diffraction, optical absorption spectrum, and atomic force microscope. The films show the presence of diffraction peaks from the (101), (004), (200) and (105) lattice planes of the anatase TiO₂ lattice. The direct band gap of the annealed films decreases with the increase of annealing temperature. While, the roughness of the films increases with the increases of annealing temperature, and some significant roughness changes of the TiO₂ film surfaces were observed after the annealing temperature reached 800 °C. Moreover, the influences of annealing on the microstructures of the TiO₂ film were investigated also by in situ observation in transmission electron microscope.

Keywords

TiO₂ films / DC reactive magnetron sputtering / anatase / in situ TEM / annealing

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