Synthesis and optical properties of tantalum oxide films prepared by ionized plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition

• Published in: Solid state communications Vol. 147; no. 3; pp. 90 - 93
• Main Authors: He, Xiliang, Wu, Jiehua, Zhao, Lili, Meng, Jia, Gao, Xiangdong, Li, Xiaomin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2008; Elsevier
• Subjects: A. Tantalum oxide films; Condensed matter: electronic structure, electrical, magnetic, and optical properties; D. Optical properties; E. Ionized plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition; Exact sciences and technology; Insulators; Optical properties and condensed-matter spectroscopy and other interactions of matter with particles and radiation; Optical properties of specific thin films; Physics; 78.20.-e; 81.15.Fg; A. Tantalum oxide films; E. Ionized plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition; D. Optical properties; Tantalum oxide; Refractive index; Pulsed laser deposition; Fabrication property relation; Absorption coefficients; Energy gap; Optical properties; Chemical composition; Absorption spectra; Spectrophotometry
• ISSN: 0038-1098; 1879-2766
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ssc.2008.05.007

In this work, tantalum oxide (TaO x ) films were deposited on quartz glass substrates by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) and ionized plasma-assisted pulsed laser deposition (IPA-PLD). The effects of oxygen pressures and ionized oxygen plasma-assistance (IOPA) on the optical properties of deposited films have been studied. Ultraviolet–visible–near infrared (UV–VIS–NIR) scanning spectrophotometry was used to measure the transmittance of deposited films and to determine the optical band gap and absorption coefficient. Results show that the transmittance, absorption coefficient, band gap and chemical composition of deposited films reveal a strong dependence on the oxygen pressures and IOPA. Under optimum condition of IOPA, the refractive index of the synthesized film was 2.22 (at 633 nm wavelength), while an optical band gap of 4.18 eV was obtained. These two values compare very favorably with films produced by other methods.