Abstract & Overview
Undoped and Nb-doped TiO 2 thin films have been fabricated on glass substrate by RF magnetron sputtering.The morphologic, structural and surface composition of these films before and after annealing in different environments were investigated by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).The XRD data reveal that the crystallinity is improved when the films are Nb-doped and annealed in H 2 environment.The TiO 2 thin films annealed in H 2 environment exhibit only the anatase phase.The XPS analysis of TiO 2 with Nb indicates the maximum shift in binding energy of the Ti 2p peak.A mechanism for the incorporation of Nb in the TiO 2 lattice has been proposed.