Some sol–gel processing parameters effect on the properties of dip coated TiO2 thin films

Thin film technology steps are; processing, structure, properties, performance, and characterization. The processing and the parameters are so important and affect the other steps. So analyzing the processing parameter on the properties of the thin film gives us the most important information on the properties of thin films and the performance of thin films. In this study TiO2 thin films were grown by sol–gel dip-coating method with using prepared and aged solution. For analysing the dipping time and aging effect on the thin film properties; a series of TiO2 thin films were prepared with at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 s on glass substrates. Morphological, structural and optical properties were carried out for the as-grown TiO2 and aged TiO2 thin films. From the UV–Vis spectroscopy, it was revealed to exhibit high optical transmission in the visible regime and was found to be worse with sol-ageing time. Urbach energy values are calculated and it is found that Urbach energy decreases with increasing thickness. From the structural analysing (XRD, SEM), it is seen that when the dipping time increases, the crystallization improves and the homogeneity in the surface distribution increases. However, in the aged sample, the crystallization and homogeneity are better than the as-grown. The dielectric parameter of the thin films are calculated. The real part of the dielectric constant of as-grown films follows the same trend with aged samples and the values of ɛ1 are higher than those of the ɛ2. The low values of VELF and SELF for both the as-grown and aged TiO2 samples are charming common interest of the researchers due to the opportunity of potential application in the optical communication system.