Formation of TiO2 nano-platelets using plasma induced by a pulse KrF-laser

TiO2 Thin films were deposited by RF magnetron sputtering on silicon dioxide substrates and irradiated using a KrF excimer laser. The effect of laser energy on the film has been systemically investigated by X-ray diffractometry, Raman spectral, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. When the laser fluence was not higher than 0.3 J/cm2, an obvious thermal effect of laser irradiation was observed. And with the laser fluence increasing to 1 J/cm2, novel TiO2 nano-platelets were found on the surface because the laser induced plasma caused electron-ion emission from the TiO2 film surface. By increasing the laser fluence continually, the nano-platelets become sparse, which was due to the ion density in the plasma induced by laser.