Nanocrystalline TiO2 thin films prepared by electron beam evaporation for photodetector applications

TiO₂ thin films were deposited on quartz substrates by electron beam evaporation and then annealed at 700°C for 1 h in air for the photodetector applications. Various characterization techniques were used to study the properties of the films. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Raman results indicated that the post-annealed films exhibited single anatase phase and the grain size was 78 nm. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images showed that the films were smooth and compact. The UV-vis transparency spectra and photoluminescence (PL) spectra were applied to analyze the optical properties and emission features of the films. These results suggest the TiO₂ thin films prepared in our experiments are a promising candidate material for the photodetector applications.