Nucleation and Growth of Crystalline Grains in RF-SputteredTiO2Films

[摘要] AmorphousTiO2thin films were radio frequency sputtered onto siliconmonoxide and carbon support films on molybdenum transmission electron microscope (TEM) grids and observed during in situ annealing in a TEM heating stage at250∘C. The evolution of crystallization is consistent with a classical model of homogeneous nucleation and isotropic grain growth. The two-dimensional grain morphology of the TEM foil allowed straightforward recognition of amorphous and crystallized regions of the films, for measurement of crystalline volume fraction and grain number density. By assumingthat the kinetic parameters remain constant beyond the onset of crystallization, the final average grain size was computed, using an analytical extrapolation to the fully crystallized state. Electron diffraction reveals a predominance of the anatase crystallographic phase.

[学科分类] 材料工程