Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
In this paper, we report the effect of vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) annealing of tantalum oxide films deposited on Si (100) and quartz at room temperature by photo-induced chemical vapour deposition using excimer lamps. The influences of annealing pressure and temperature on the structural and optical properties have been studied using ellipsometry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and UV spectrophotometry. Under optimum annealing conditions, the refractive index of the films was found to be around 2.15, while a dielectric constant of 24, a breakdown field of 2.3 MV/cm and an optical transmittance in the visible region of the spectrum greater than 85% were obtained.