Investigation of thermal annealing of optical properties and residual stress of ion-beam-assisted TiO_2 thin films with different substrate temperatures

Titanium oxide films were prepared by ion-beam-assisted deposition on glass substrates at various substrate temperatures. The effect of the temperature of thermal annealing from 100 degrees C to 300 degrees C on the optical properties and residual stress was investigated. The influence on the stoichiometry and residual stress of titanium oxides deposited at different substrate temperature was discussed. The residual-stress was minimum and the extinction coefficient was maximum at an annealing temperature of 200 degrees C with a substrate temperature of 150 degrees C. However, when the substrate temperature was increased to 200 degrees C and 250 degrees C, the residual stress was minimum and the extinction coefficient was maximum at an annealing temperature of 250 degrees C. The spectra of x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy reveal that the films lost oxygen and slowly generated lower suboxides at the annealing temperature at which the residual stress was minimum and the extinction coefficient was maximum. As the annealing temperature increased above the temperature at minimum stress, the lower suboxides began to capture oxygen and form stable oxides. TiO2 films deposited at substrate temperatures of 200 degrees C and 250 degrees C were more stable than films deposited at 150 degrees C.