Preparation and study of microstructures, optical properties and oscillator parameters of titanium (IV) oxide (TiO2) film

In this study, Titanium (IV) Oxide (TiO₂) film has been prepared and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The XRD pattern of TiO₂ film of anatase phase exhibit very sharp peaks at 25° and 47.85°. According to Scherrer??s formula the grain size of anatase (101) phase TiO₂ nananoparticle is 38.5 nm. The optical properties and constants of TiO₂ film of thickness (4 ??m) have been investigated at room temperature. The transmittance, reflectance and absorbance spectra are measured in the wavelength range (340?C900 nm). Optical constants of TiO₂ film are derived from the transmission spectra and the refractive index dispersion of the film. The oscillator energy, E ₀ dispersion energy, E _d , the static refractive index, n ₀, and other parameters have been determined by the single oscillator Wemple-DiDomenico method. This film can be used in the form of thin film in dye-sensitized solar cells.     

Microstructure parameters and optical properties of cadmium ferrite thin films of variable thickness

CdFe₂O₄ thin films of different thicknesses were deposited onto glass substrates by the thermal evaporation technique. Their structural characteristics were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). The microstructure parameters, crystallite size, and microstrain were calculated. It is observed that both the crystallite size increases and microstrain increase with increasing with the film thickness. The fundamental optical parameters like absorption coefficient and optical band gap are calculated in the strong absorption region of transmittance and reflectance spectrum. The refractive indices have been evaluated in terms of the envelope method, which has been suggested by Swanepoel in the transparent region. The refractive index can be extrapolated by the Cauchy dispersion relationship over the whole spectra range, which extended from 400 to 2500 nm. The refractive index, n, increases on increasing the film thickness up to 733 nm and the variation of n with higher thickness lies within the experimental errors.     

Effects of γ rays irradiation on structure and property of TiO2 thin films

TiO₂ thin films were deposited on a glass substrate by the radio frequency magnetron sputtering method, and annealed for 2 h at temperatures of 550°C. Then, ⁶⁰Co γ rays with different doses were used to irradiate the resulting TiO₂ thin films. The surface features of films before and after irradiation were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). Simultaneously, the crystal structure and optical properties of films before and after irradiation were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD), UV–VIS transmission spectrum and Photoluminescence (PL) spectrum, respectively. The SEM analysis shows that the film is smooth with tiny particles on the film surface, and non-crystallization trend was clear after irradiated with γ rays. The XRD results indicated that the structure of the film at the room temperature mainly exists in the form of amorphous and mixed crystal at a sputtering power of 200 W, and non-crystallinity was more obvious after irradiation. Obvious difference can be found for the transmissibility of the irradiated and pre irradiation TiO₂ films by the UV-VIS spectra. The color becomes light yellow, and the new absorption edge also appeared at about 430 nm. PL spectra and photocatalysis experiments indicate that the photocatalysis degradation rate of the TiO₂ films on methylthionine chloride solution irradiated with the maximum dose can be increased to 90%.     

Photocatalytic activity of dc magnetron sputter deposited amorphous TiO2 thin films

For photocatalytic thin film applications TiO₂ is one of the most important materials. The most studied TiO₂ crystal phase is anatase, though also rutile and brookite show good photoactivity. Usually anatase or a mixture of rutile and anatase is applied for powder or thin film catalysts. It has been claimed that amorphous films do not exhibit any or only a very low photocatalytic activity.We have deposited amorphous thin films by dc magnetron sputtering from sub-stoichiometric TiO_2−x targets. The coatings are transparent and show a photocatalytic activity half of that of a thin layer of spin-coated reference photocatalyst powder. Annealing the thin films to yield anatase crystallization more than doubles their photocatalytic activity. At the same film thickness these thin films show the same activity as a commercially available photocatalytic coating.The dependence of the photocatalytic activity on deposition parameters like gas pressure and sputter power is discussed. A decrease in film density, as deduced from the refractive index and the microstructure, resulted in an increase in photocatalytic activity. Film thickness has a marked influence on the photocatalytic activity, showing a strong increase up to 300-400 nm, followed by a much shallower slope.     

Influence of surface topography and annealing temperature on the surface and volume of dissipation electrical energy and Spitzer–Fan model in Al doped ZnO films

The aim of this work is to investigate the optical constants of aluminum doped zinc oxide films annealed at different temperatures. With increasing temperature, due to decreasing unfilled inter-granular volume per unit thickness, the optical transmittance spectra of films were increased. The films have a normal dispersion in the spectral range 400?<?λ?<?500 nm and the anomalous dispersion in IR range. The lattice dielectric constants ε_L, the free charge carriers concentration, the plasma frequency, Spitzer–Fan model and the waste of electrical energy as heat of films can be analyzed using the refractive index n and the extinction coefficient k spectra. With increasing annealing temperature, the lattice dielectric constants ε_L of films decrease however the free charge carriers concentration of films increase. The free carrier electric susceptibility of films annealed at 600 °C has maximum value. The energy loss by the free charge carriers when traversing the bulk and surface of films annealed at 600 °C has a minimum value in the near fundamental absorption edge and it with increasing energy increases.     

Photoluminescence study of nitrogen-doped p-type Mg x Zn1−x O nanocrystalline thin film grown by plasma-assisted molecular beam epitaxy

Tin sulfide thin films have been grown on glass substrates by chemical bath deposition technique (CBD) at room temperature and irradiated with UV light source of wavelength 355 nm. The effect of UV illumination on the physical properties of the films was compared with that of the as-prepared film. Though the thickness of the films was unaltered after illumination, the structural, optical and electrical properties changed considerably. Structural studies showed the polycrystalline nature of the UV-illuminated sample, whereas the as-prepared film was mono crystalline. Both films were orthorhombic structure with Sn₂S₃ phase. The optical properties of the films were systematically studied using the optical absorbance and reflection spectra. Studies on the reflection spectra showed higher reflectance in visible and infrared region for the UV-illuminated films and lower reflectance in the infrared region for the as-prepared one. The variation of the refractive index of the samples was also analyzed. The optical absorption coefficient and the optical band gap energy of the films were evaluated. The irradiated film exhibited lower band gap of 1.74 eV than the value of as-prepared film, i.e., 1.77 eV. The measured resistivity of the tin sulfide thin films was found to be of the order of 10⁸ and 10⁹ Ωcm for UV-illuminated and as-prepared films, respectively. The SEM images showed the presence of worm-like nanostructures with almost similar appearance in both the films.     

Optical characterization of tin containing novel chalcogen rich glassy semiconductors

Amorphous thin film materials with different compositions of Se_80?xTe₂₀Sn_x (0 ≤ x ≤ 10) system have been deposited on glass substrates by a well known thermal evaporation technique. Structural characterization of different compositions of aforementioned system has been done by Raman spectroscopy. The optical properties of thin films have been studied in the wavelength range 200–1100 nm by the utilization of the optical absorbance spectra of deposited thin films. To calculate the optical band gap from the optical absorption spectra, we have used Tauc model that follows the mechanism of allowed ‘non-direct electronic transition’. Subsequently, we have determined the energy band gap, metallization criterion and refractive index of thin films of aforesaid system. The variation in optical properties with composition has been interpreted in terms of density of defect states.     

Thermal tuning of surface plasmon resonance: Ag gratings on barium strontium titanate thin films

Surface plasmon tuning via thermally induced refractive index changes in ferroelectrics is investigated. Epitaxial (Ba_0.7Sr_0.3)TiO₃ (BST) thin films were deposited on MgO (001) substrates by pulsed laser deposition. The refractive index of BST thin films measured by the prism-coupling technique was found to increase from 2.3932 (TE)/1.9945 (TM) at room temperature to 2.3949 (TE)/1.9965 (TM) at 66°C. Then 30-nm-Ag gratings with periodicity 750 nm and width 300 nm were fabricated on BST by soft ultraviolet nanoimprint lithography and subsequent lift-off process. The reflection spectra from 500 to 1000 nm with incident angle from 5° to 60° were measured at room temperature and 66°C, with a collimated and p-polarized light incident perpendicularly to the grating direction. Several modes were observed from the spectra. At 66°C, a red shift of a dip at about 850 nm by 2 nm was obtained at an incident angle of 15°. Calculations confirmed that the observed modes belong to the (−1), (2), (−2) and (3) surface plasmon modes from the Ag and BST interfaces and localized mode; the red shift by thermal tuning is also confirmed. The results indicate the feasibility of active modulation in surface plasmon resonance in solid-state structures.     

Electrical transport properties and laser-induced voltage effect in La0.8Ca0.2MnO3 epitaxial thin films

La_0.8Ca_0.2MnO₃ (LCMO) thin films about 200 nm thickness were grown on untilted and tilted (5°, 10° and 15°) LaAlO₃ (100) single crystal substrates by pulsed laser deposition technique. Electrical properties of the epitaxial thin films were studied by conventional four-probe technique and the anisotropic thermoelectric properties of the films grown on the tilted substrates have been investigated by laser-induced voltage (LIV) measurements. X-ray diffraction analysis and atomic force microscopy results show that the prepared LCMO thin films have a single phase and high crystalline quality. The remarkably large temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) values (above 11 %/K) are observed in the all films. TCR value reaches 18 %/K on the film grown on 10° tilted substrate. The intensity of LIV signals monotonously increases with the tilting angles, and the largest signal is 148 mV with the fast time response 229 ns for the film grown on 15° tilted substrate.     

Thickness dependent optical dispersion parameters and nonlinear optical properties of nanostructured Cr doped CdO thin films

Cr doped CdO thin films were deposited on glass substrates by reactive DC magnetron sputtering with varying film thickness from 250 to 400 nm. XRD studies reveal that the films exhibit cubic structure with preferred orientation along the (2 0 0) plane. The optical transmittance of the films decreases from 92 to 72%, whereas the optical energy band gap of the films decreased from 2.88 to 2.78 eV with increasing film thickness. The Wemple–DiDomenico single oscillator model has been used to evaluate the optical dispersion parameters such as dispersion energy (E_d), oscillator energy (E_o), static refractive index (n_o) and high frequency dielectric constant (ε_∞). The nonlinear optical parameters such as optical susceptibility (χ⁽¹⁾), third order nonlinear optical susceptibility (χ⁽³⁾) and nonlinear refractive index (n₂) of the films were also determined.