Influence of the Annealing Temperature on the Thickness and Roughness of La 2 Ti 2 O 7 Thin Films

Abstract

In this work, the impact of the substrate annealing temperature on the thickness and roughness of La2Ti2O7 thin films was verified. A group of LTO Thin films was grown on Si (100) substrates successfully via pulsed laser deposition technique (PLD) at various annealing temperatures with a constant numbers of pulses and energy per pulse. Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) were used to investigate the thickness and roughness of the deposited La2Ti2O7 thin films. The average thickness of the thin films was decreased due to the increasing in the annealing temperature linearly; the maximum thickness was found (231 nm) when LTO thin film deposited at 500˚C. The root mean square roughness was increased linearly with increasing the substrate Temperatures. The minimum roughness was found (0.254 nm) when LTO deposited at (500˚C). From the obtained results, its clear evidence that the annealing temperature has an influence on the thickness and roughness of the LTO thin films.