Influence of thermal annealing on the composition and structural parameters of DC magnetron sputtered titanium dioxide thin films

Abstract

Titanium dioxide films have been deposited using DC magnetron sputtering technique. Films were deposited onto RCA cleaned p-silicon substrates at the ambient temperature at an oxygen partial pressure of $7 \times 10^{-5}$ mbar and sputtering pressure of $1 \times 10 ^{-3}$ mbar. The deposited films were annealed in the temperature range 673-873 K. The structure and composition of the films were confirmed using X-ray diffraction and Auger electron spectroscopy. The structure of the films deposited at the ambient was found to be amorphous and the films annealed at 673 K and above were crystalline with anatase structure. The lattice constants, grain size, microstrain and the dislocation density of the film are calculated and correlated with annealing temperature