Effects of Deposition Rate on the Structural, Morphological and Optical Properties of Brookite TiO₂ Films Prepared by MOCVD

Abstract:

Compared to anatase and rutile TiO₂, the brookite TiO₂ (b-TiO₂) is relatively seldom investigated, because it is difficult to be prepared. In order to explore a scientific and effective approach to prepare high quality b-TiO₂ crystalline films, the effects of deposition rate on the properties of b-TiO₂ films prepared on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) (110) substrates by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) were investigated in this study. The structural analyses indicated that the b-TiO₂ film prepared with the lowest deposition rate of 1.25 Å/min had the best single crystalline quality for which the epitaxial relationship between the film and substrate was determined as b-TiO₂(120) || YSZ(110) with an in-plane epitaxial relationship of b-TiO₂[001]|| YSZ[001] and b-TiO₂[20]||YSZ[10]. The RMS surface roughness of the obtained films decreased from 7.02 to 1.11 nm as the deposition rate decreased. The average transmittances of all the obtained b-TiO₂ films exceeded 90% in the visible range. The optical band gaps increased from 3.54 to 3.63 eV as the deposition rate decreased. Apparently, the deposition rate has a significant influence on the structural, morphological and optical properties. Therefore, it provides a practicable way to manipulate such properties of b-TiO₂ films for different applications in the field of transparent optoelectronic devices.

• Periodical: Materials Science Forum (Volume 898)
• Pages: 1787-1795
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.898.1787
• Online since: June 2017
• Authors: Wei Guang Wang, Ming Xian Wang, Xian Jin Feng*, Jin Ma
• Keywords: Epitaxial Growth, Microstructure, MOCVD, Thin Films

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