THE EFFECT OF TIO2 THIN FILMS ON THE SENSITIVITY, REPEATABILITY AND CURRENT DENSITY OF THE DIELECTRIC BOLOMETER BA0.6SR0.4TIO3 AS A DISTANCE SENSOR

Abstract

Sol–gel method has been used for the preparation of titanium as a buffer layer in the dielectric bolometer Ba_0.6Sr_0.4TiO₃. The TiO₂ films were prepared onto RuO2/SiO2/Si substrate and annealed at various temperatures. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) results showed that TiO₂ thin film annealed at 300 and 350 ^oC were amorphous, and transformed into the anatase form at 400 ^oC, and mix phase between anatase and the brookite phase at 450 ^oC. The field emission scanning electron microscope (FE SEM) results showed that the grain size of TiO₂ thin films increased as the temperature increased. All the sensitivity, repeatability and current density of the sensors decreased with the increased grain size of TiO₂ thin films after annealed above 350 ^oC. Our result shows that all of the sensors except sensor with TiO₂ film annealed at 550 ^oC can act as a sensor even though without the IR source.