Influence of temperature annealing on optical properties of SrTiO3/BaTiO3 multilayered films on indium tin oxide

We have prepared SrTiO3/BaTiO3 thin films with multilayered structures deposited on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass by a sol-gel deposition and heating at 300-650 degrees C. The optical properties were obtained by UV-vis spectroscopy. The films show a high transmittance (approximately 85%) in the visible region. The optical band gap of the films is tunable in the 3.64-4.19 eV range by varying the annealing temperature. An abrupt decrease towards the bulk band gap value is observed at annealing temperatures above 600 degrees C. The multilayered film annealed at 650 degrees C exhibited the maximum refractive index of 2.09-1.91 in the 450-750 nm wavelength range. The XRD and AFM results indicate that the films annealed above 600 degrees C are substantially more crystalline than the films prepared at lower temperatures which were used to change their optical band gap and complex refractive index to an extent that depended on the annealing temperature. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.