Femtosecond pulsed laser deposition of nanostructured TiO2 films

Nanostructured deposits of TiO2 were grown on Si (1 0 0) substrates by laser ablating a TiO2 sintered target in vacuum or in oxygen using a Ti:sapphire laser delivering 80 fs pulses. The effect of the laser irradiation wavelength on the obtained nanostructures, was investigated using 800, 400 and 266 nm at different substrate temperatures and pressures of oxygen. The composition of the deposits was characterized using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and the surface morphology was studied by environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Deposits are absent of microscopic droplets in all conditions explored. The best deposits, constituted by nanoparticles of an average diameter of 30 nm with a narrow size distribution, were obtained at the shorter laser wavelength of 266 nm under vacuum at substrate room temperature.