Thermally induced crystallization of amorphous-titania films

Abstract

Three types of amorphous-titania films prepared by ion- and electron-beam techniques have been annealed thermally. An amorphous-crystalline transformation is found in each of these film types at around 350 °C. Its resulting microcrystalline structure and the exact transition temperature appear to be dictated by the rutile microcrystalline seed present in the as-deposited films under different deposition conditions. An amorphous film with a weak rutile seed crystallizes at a lower temperature into the anatase structure, while a film with a relatively strong rutile base crystallizes into the rutile structure at a somewhat higher temperature. It is demonstrated that Raman spectroscopy is a simple and effective tool for characterization of these submicron-thick amorphous films and for the dynamical study of such a phase transformation. Accompanying this amorphous-crystalline transformation, a two-order increase in elastic light scattering is noted implying optical degradation associated with microcrystalline boundaries. In addition, results of the anatase–rutile transformation at a temperature near 900 °C are presented.