Effects of annealing temperature on the photoluminescence of RF sputtered Barium titanate thin films

BaTiO3 thin films were deposited onto quartz substrates by an RF magnetron sputtering method. The films deposited at room temperature and annealed at 773-1173 K were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD)Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV-vis spectroscopy and Photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL). X-ray diffraction studies revealed that the film is amorphous in nature at 773 K and that the crystallinity increases with increase in annealing temperature. The average crystallite size of the films increased from 13-18 nm and the optical band gap decreased in the range of 4.33-3.43 eV, with increase in annealing temperature. The films exhibited good adherence to the substrates and the SEM images showed smooth surface morphology. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis confirmed the presence of barium, titanium and oxygen in the film. The red-shifts of excitonic UV emission peaks were observed in all samples which can be attributed to the stress produced due to lattice distortions. The visible PL emission intensity showed appreciable enhancement with post-deposition annealing. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.