Surface chemistry and optical property of TiO2 thin films treated by low-pressure plasma

The low temperature RF plasma treatment was used to control the surface chemistry and optical property of TiO2 thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering with a very good uniformity at 300 deg. C substrate heating temperature. The XRD pattern indicates the crystalline structure of the film could be associated to amorphous structure of TiO2 in thin film. The plasma treatment of TiO2 film can increase the proportion of Ti3+ in Ti2p and decrease in carbon atoms as alcohol/ether group in C1s at the surface. The optical transmittance of the film was enhanced by 50% after the plasma treatment. The surface structure and morphology remain the same for untreated and low-pressure plasma-treated films. Therefore, increase in the optical transmission could be due to change in surface chemistry and surface cleaning by plasma treatment. - Graphical abstract: The surface chemistry and surface states of TiO2 films was modified using low-pressure RF plasma treatment. The surface roughness and crystalline structure remain unchanged for low-pressure plasma-treated films. There was an increase in the Ti3+ surface states of Ti2p at the surface and this can be useful to increase the photocatalytic activities of TiO2 films. The proportion of carbon atoms as carboxyl group in C1s was also increased after plasma treatment. All the plasma-treated films show a higher optical transmittance when untreated and it was increased when the power was increased. The increase in the optical transmission could be due to surface cleaning of films by plasma treatment and possibly due to change in the surface chemistry