Effect of annealing on the structural, electrical and optical properties of nanostructured TiO₂ thin films

Abstract

Abstract Nanostructured titanium dioxide thin films were prepared using reactive pulsed laser ablation technique. Effects of annealing on the structural, morphological, electrical and optical properties are discussed. The structural, electrical and optical properties of TiO 2 films are found to be sensitive to annealing temperature and are described with GIXRD, SEM, AFM, UV‐Visible spectroscopy and electrical studies. X‐ray diffraction studies showed that the as‐deposited films were amorphous and at first changed to anatase and then to rutile phase with increase of annealing temperature. Optical constants of these films were derived from the transmission spectra and the refractive index dispersion of the films, subjected to annealing at different temperatures, is discussed in terms of the single oscillator‐Wemple and Didomenico model. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)