Structural and optical properties of TiO2 thin films grown by sol-gel dip coating process

Abstract

The mono and bi-layer TiO2 thin films have been prepared by sol-gel method on glass. X-Ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, spectroscopic ellipsometry and m-lines spectroscopy techniques have been used to characterize the TiO2 films. The mono-layer film is found to be amorphous, while the bi-layer film shows the presence of anatase phase. The bi-layer film exhibits more homogeneous surface with less roughness. The thickness effect on the refractive index, extinction ceofficient, packing density and optical band gap is analysed. The waveguiding measurements of the bi-layer film exhibit single-guided TE0 and TM0 polarized modes from which we can measure the refractive index and the film thickness.