The effect of different annealing cooling rate on electrical and mechanical properties of TiO2 thin films.

This paper presents the effect of different cooling rate after annealing on structural and electrical properties of TiO2 thin films. Titanium dioxide thin film was deposited on a silicon substrate using DC magnetron technique. After annealing TiO2 thin films at 600oC, to investigate the effect of different cooling rates on TiO2 thin films, samples were cooled down from 600oC to the room temperature under 3 different rates: 2oC/min, 6oC/min and 8oC/min. The Surface morphology, crystal structure, and electrical property of samples were characterized by atomic force measurement (AFM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Four-point probe (FPP) technique. It is found that the rate of decreasing temperature after annealing can affect the morphology structure and electrical resistivity of titanium dioxide. Sample with 2oC/m has the biggest grain size, and more electrical resistivity while the smallest grain size and lowest electrical resistivity belong to sample with 8oC/m cooling rate.