Investigation of the effect of annealing on the structural, morphological and optical properties of RF sputtered WO3 nanostructure

Abstract

In this study, we focused on examining the effect of annealing on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the tungsten oxide (WO3) nanostructures. WO3 nanostructure deposited on n-type Si substrate using the radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering system. The WO3 nanostructure was divided into 6 parts. 5 samples except as-deposited samples were individually annealed at various temperatures ranging from 300 degrees C to 700 degrees C (by step 100 degrees C) in a conventional thermal annealing furnace (CTA) for 1 h. The stoichiometry of the asdeposited WO3 was determined by SEM-EDS and XPS measurements. Structural, morphological, and optic properties of the as-deposited and different annealed temperatures WO3 nanostructures were characterized by XRD, AFM, Uv-Vis and PL measurements. The effects of annealing on material analysis and properties were reported with a comparative study. It has been reported that the annealed WO3 nanostructure can be preferred as an effective material for device applications.