[1Gp01-06] Thin Film (TF)

[1Gp06] Effect of substrate pre-treatement and surface defect on the reproducibility and stability of the TiO₂ thin film prepared by rf magnetron sputtering

*Rahul Deshmukh¹, MITSUHIRO HONDA¹, YO ICHIKAWA¹ (1. Nagoya Institute of Technology)

The reproducibility and stability of titanium dioxide (TiO₂) thin films prepared by RF magnetron sputtering on pre-treated quartz substrates were investigated. The quartz substrates were annealed in oxygen atmosphere before the deposition of TiO₂ films. Photoluminescence (PL) measurement was carried out to study the presence of defect states in the films and to confirm the reproducibility as well as stability of the films. Photocatalytic degradation of the methylene blue (MB) was carried out to check the photocatalytic activity of the prepared films.
The results showed that the reproducibility of TiO₂ thin films prepared on pre-treated quartz substrate was significantly improved compared to films prepared without pre-treatment. The PL spectra showed that the defect states varied with experimental conditions during sputtering. The surface defects were responsible for not only enhancing the photocatalytic activity but also the good stability of the films.