Effect of Annealing Temperature on the Low Emissivity of TiO₂/Ag/TiO₂ Films

Ag intermediated <TEX>TiO₂</TEX> films were deposited by RF and DC magnetron sputtering and then vacuum annealed at 100, 200 and <TEX>300∘C</TEX> for 30 minutes to investigate the effect of annealing temperature on the structural and optical properties of the films. For all depositions, the thickness of the <TEX>TiO₂</TEX> and Ag films were kept constant at 24 and 15 nm by controlling the deposition time. As-deposited <TEX>TiO₂/Ag/TiO₂</TEX> trilayer films have a weak crystalline and an optical reflectance in a near infrared wavelength region of 77.8%, while the films annealed at <TEX>300∘C</TEX> show the polycrystalline structure and an increased mean optical reflectance of 80.4%. From the experimental results, it can be concluded that increasing the annealing temperature enhanced the structural and optical properties of the <TEX>TiO₂/Ag/TiO₂</TEX> films.