High Refractive Index Silica-Titania Films Fabricated via the Sol–Gel Method and Dip-Coating Technique—Physical and Chemical Characterization

Crack-free binary SiOx:TiOy composite films with the refractive index of ~1.94 at wavelength 632.8 nm were fabricated on soda-lime glass substrates, using the sol–gel method and dip-coating technique. With the use of transmission spectrophotometry and Tauc method, the energy of the optical band gap...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials 2021-11, Vol.14 (23), p.7125
Main Authors: Zięba, Magdalena, Wojtasik, Katarzyna, Tyszkiewicz, Cuma, Gondek, Ewa, Nizioł, Jacek, Suchanek, Katarzyna, Wojtasik, Michał, Pakieła, Wojciech, Karasiński, Paweł
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Annealing
Atomic force microscopy
Chemical properties
Dip coatings
Fourier transforms
Glass substrates
Homogeneity
Immersion coating
Infrared spectroscopy
Methods
Microscopy
Optical properties
Optics
Raman spectroscopy
Refractivity
Silica
Silicon dioxide
Smoothness
Soda-lime glass
Sol-gel processes
Spectroellipsometry
Spectrophotometry
Viscosity
Waveguides
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Summary:Crack-free binary SiOx:TiOy composite films with the refractive index of ~1.94 at wavelength 632.8 nm were fabricated on soda-lime glass substrates, using the sol–gel method and dip-coating technique. With the use of transmission spectrophotometry and Tauc method, the energy of the optical band gap of 3.6 eV and 4.0 eV were determined for indirect and direct optical allowed transitions, respectively. Using the reflectance spectrophotometry method, optical homogeneity of SiOx:TiOy composite films was confirmed. The complex refractive index determined by spectroscopic ellipsometry confirmed good transmission properties of the developed SiOx:TiOy films in the Vis-NIR spectral range. The surface morphology of the SiOx:TiOy films by atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) methods demonstrated their high smoothness, with the root mean square roughness at the level of ~0.15 nm. Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy were used to investigate the chemical properties of the SiOx:TiOy material. The developed binary composite films SiOx:TiOy demonstrate good waveguide properties, for which optical losses of 1.1 dB/cm and 2.7 dB/cm were determined, for fundamental TM0 and TE0 modes, respectively.
ISSN:1996-1944
1996-1944
DOI:10.3390/ma14237125