Effect of Annealing Temperature on Structure and Optical Properties of Ta2O5 Thin Films Prepared by DC Magnetron Sputtering

Tantalum oxide (Ta2O5) films at 400 nm thickness were prepared at room temperature by DC reactive magnetron sputtering. The effect of annealing temperature on film crystallinity, microstructure and optical properties were investigated. In order to indentify the crystalline structure and film morphology, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) measurements were performance. The optical properties were determined by UV-Vis spectrophotometer and spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE). The result showed that, with the annealing treatment at high temperature (700-900°C), the as-deposited films were crystallized to orthorhombic phase of tantalum pentaoxide (β-Ta2O5). In addition, the transmittance spectrum percentage indicated 87%, which corresponded to the obtained optical characteristic. The refractive index varied at 550 nm from 2.17 to 2.21 with increased of the annealing temperature.