The oriented growth of anatase in thin films of amorphous titania

The growth of an oriented anatase grain structure from the post-deposition annealing of amorphous reactive ion-beam-deposited thin films of titanium oxide has been demonstrated. The transformation has been observed directly by electron microscopy and the crystallization of the films occurs only when their thicknesses are greater than about 50 nm. Substrate effects were not found to be significant to the crystallization, which could also be induced by annealing freestanding films. The transformation processes can be described in terms of existing theories of crystal growth where the amorphous film is described as a supercooled liquid.