Influence of Deposition Time on Properties of the RF Sputtered TiO2 Thin Films

TiO2 films were prepared using radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering and were deposited on glass and Si substrates. We varied deposition time at room temperature with RF density of 3.7 W/cm2 and argon flow rate of 4 sccm. The morphological, structural, optical and electrical properties were studied by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), X ray Diffractometer (XRD) and UV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer. The transmittance is maintained in the range of 70- 90% in the visible and near-infrared range, high refractive index of 2.4 and large direct band gap of about 3.5 eV are obtained. These films are annealed at 300°C during 2 hours. The annealing effect is investigated in this work. The results of this study suggest that the variation of the deposition time allow the control of the structural, optical and electrical properties of the films.