Annealing Effect of Pulsed Laser Deposited Transparent Conductive Ta-Doped Titanium Oxide Films

Tantalum-doped TiO₂ films were deposited on glass at 300°C by pulsed laser deposition (PLD). After post−annealing in vacuum (∼10⁻⁴ Pa) at temperatures ranging from 450°C to 650°C, these films were crystallized into an anatase TiO₂ structure and presented good conductive features. With increasing annealing temperature up to 550°C, the resistivity of the films was measured to be around 8.7×10⁻⁴ Ω⋅cm. Such films exhibit high transparency of over 80% in the visible light region. These results indicate that tantalum-doped anatase TiO₂ films have a great potential as transparent conducting oxides.