Nanostructure and Optical Property Investigations of SrTiO(3) Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

Strontium titanate thin films were deposited on a silicon substrate by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering. The structural and optical properties of these films were characterized by X-ray diffraction, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and spectroscopic ellipsometry, respectively. After annealing at 600–800 °C, the as-deposited films changed from amorphous to polycrystalline. It was found that an amorphous interfacial layer appeared between the SrTiO(3) layer and Si substrate in each as-deposited film, which grew thicker after annealing. The optical parameters of the SrTiO(3) film samples were acquired from ellipsometry spectra by fitting with a Lorentz oscillator model. Moreover, we found that the band gap energy of the samples diminished after thermal treatment.