Influence of surfactant and annealing temperature on optical properties of sol-gel derived nano-crystalline TiO2 thin films.

Titanium dioxide thin films have been synthesized by sol-gel spin coating technique on glass and silicon substrates with and without surfactant polyethylene glycol (PEG). XRD and SEM results confirm the presence of nano-crystalline (anatase) phase at an annealing temperature of 300 degrees C. The influence of surfactant and annealing temperature on optical properties of TiO(2) thin films has been studied. Optical constants and film thickness were estimated by Swanepoel's (envelope) method and by ellipsometric measurements in the visible spectral range. The optical transmittance and reflectance were found to decrease with an increase in PEG percentage. Refractive index of the films decreased and film thickness increased with the increase in percentage of surfactant. The refractive index of the un-doped TiO(2) films was estimated at different annealing temperatures and it has increased with the increasing annealing temperature. The optical band gap of pure TiO(2) films was estimated by Tauc's method at different annealing temperature.