Preparation of Ta-Doped TiO2 Using Ta2O5 as the Doping Source

A novel method for preparing Ta-doped Ti02 via using Ta2 05 as the doping source is proposed. The preparation process combines the hydrothernlal fluorination of Ta2O5 and the subsequent formation of Ta-doped TiO2 sol. The results show that the doped sample annealed at 393 K generates an unstable intermediate NH4 TiOF3, which converts into anatase TiO2 with the increase of temperature. After annealing at ≥673K, the Ta-doped TiO2 nanocrystals with the grain size 〈20nm are obtained. Both the XRD and TG-DSC results confirm that Ta doping prevents the anatase-rutile crystal transition of TiO2. The band gap values of the doped samples, as obtained by UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra, are smaller than that of pure anatase TiO2. The first-principle pseudopotential method calculations indicate that Ta5＋ lies in the TiO2 lattice at the interstitial position.

Temperature dependences of optical properties,chemical composition,structure,and laser damage in Ta_2O_5 films

Ta2O5 films are prepared by e-beam evaporation with varied deposition temperatures, annealing temperatures, and annealing times. The effects of temperature on the optical properties, chemical composition, structure, and laser- induced damage threshold （LIDT） are systematically investigated. The results show that the increase of deposition temperature decreases the film transmittance slightly, yet annealing below 923 K is beneficial for the transmittance. The XRD analysis reveals that the film is in the amorphous phase when annealed below 873 K and in thehexagonal phase when annealed at 1073 K. While an interesting near-crystalline phase is found when annealed at 923 K. The LIDT increases with the deposition temperature increasing, whereas it increases firstly and then decreases as the annealing temperature increases. In addition, the increase of the annealing time from 4 h to 12 h is favourable to improving the LIDT, which is mainly due to the improvement of the O/Ta ratio. The highest LIDT film is obtained when annealed at 923 K, owing to the lowest density of defect.

The Optical Properties of Nanostructured Ta_2O_5 Films

Amorphous Ta_2O_5 films were prepared on Si (100) substrates by thermal oxidization.The film consisted of amorphous Ta_2O_5 nanostructure that grew vertically and compactly at a large range.It was found that Ta_2O_5 films became crystalline when annealed at or above 650℃and remained amorphous below 650℃.The effects of annealing on the optical properties of Ta_2O_5 film were also discussed.It is estimated that the refraction indexes and the optical energy gaps of both amorphous Ta_2O_5 film and crystal one are stable.The optical energy gap of as-deposited Ta_2O_5 film is about 4.81 eV.The above results indicate that Ta_2O_5 films have a promising application in the optical devices.

Capacitive Microwave MEMS Switch

A novel capacitive microwave MEMS switch with a silicon/metal/dielectric as a membrane is fabricated successfully by bonding and etching-stop process. Its principal, design, and fabricating process are described in detail. A patterned dielectric layer, Ta2O5, with dielectric constant of 24 is reached. Experiment results show this novel structure,where the switch＇s dielectric layer is not prepared on the transmission line, features very low insertion loss. The insertion loss is 0.06dB at 2GHz and lower than 0.5dB in the wider range from De up to 20GHz,especially when the transmission line metal is only 0. 5μm thick.

Effects of O_2/Ar ratio and annealing temperature on electrical properties of Ta_2O_5 film prepared by magnetron sputtering

The effects of the oxygen-argon ratio on electric properties of Ta2O5 film prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering were investigated.The Ta2O5 partially transforms from the amorphous phase into the crystal phase when annealing temperatures are 800℃ or higher.The lattice constant of Ta2O5 decreases with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio,which indicates that oxygen gas in the working gas mixture contributes to reducing the density of oxygen vacancies during the deposition process.For the films deposited in working gas mixtures with different O2/Ar ratios and subsequently annealed at 700℃,the effective dielectric constant is increased from 14.7 to 18.4 with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio from 0 to 1.Considering the presence of an SiO2 layer between the film and the silicon substrate,the optimal dielectric constant of Ta2O5 film was estimated to be 31.Oxygen gas in the working gas mixture contributes to reducing the density of oxygen vacancies,and the oxygen vacancy density and leakage current of Ta2O5 film both decrease with the increase of the O2/Ar ratio.The leakage current decreases after annealing treatment and it is minimized at 700℃.However,when the annealing temperature is 800℃ or higher,it increases slightly,which results from the partially crystallized Ta2O5 layer containing defects such as grain boundaries and vacancies.

Laser-induced damage threshold in n-on-1 regime of Ta_2O_5 films at 532,800,and 1064 nm

Ta205 films were prepared with conventional electron beam evaporation and annealed in 02 at 673 K for 12 h. Laser-induced damage thresholds （LIDTs） of the films were performed at 532 and 1064 nm in 1-on-1 regime firstly, and then were performed at 532, 800, and 1064 nm in n-on-1 regime, respectively. The results showed that the LIDTs in n-on-1 regime were higher than that in 1-on-1 regime at 532 and 1064 nm. In addition, in n-on-1 regime, the LIDT increased with the increase of wavelength. Furthermore, both the optical property and LIDT of Ta205 films were influenced by annealing in 02.