Rapid Thermal Annealing Process Research Articles

Optimizing molybdenum oxide based RRAM with vacuum rapid thermal annealing and carbon quantum dots

The performance of resistive random access memory (RRAM) is significantly influenced by the dielectric layer and interface. In this study, the vacuum rapid thermal annealing (VacRTA) process and the incorporation of carbon quantum dots (CQDs) were employed to enhance the device performance. The VacRTA process induced extra oxygen vacancies in the MoOx film, reducing the energy required for the formation of Ag conductive filaments (CFs). In addition, CQDs were spin-coated on the bottom electrode (BE) interface to effectively fix the position of Ag CFs formation and rupture. The improved device exhibits remarkable performance enhancements compared to the pristine device, including a centralized distribution of resistance states and operating voltages, extended endurance cycles (1 × 107), enhanced cell-to-cell coherence, and favorable neural synaptic properties. These results demonstrate the potential of CQDs incorporated MoOx based RRAM for next generation non-volatile memory and neural synapse simulation.

Diffusion models of grown-in and implanted p-type dopant in III-V semiconductor compounds

This research shows that the diffusion of grown-in and implanted Be atoms in III-V considered semiconductor materials, such as the Liquid-Encapsulated Czochralski-grown (LEC) GaAs as well as the Gas-Source Molecular Beam Epitaxy (GSMBE) In0.53Ga0.47As, In0.73Ga0.27As0.58P0.42, In0.53Ga0.47As/In0.73Ga0.27As0.58P0.42, In0.53Ga0.47As/InP compounds, taking place during the Rapid Thermal Annealing (RTA) process, is perfectly well explained by the “full” version of the kick-out mechanism operating through singly positively ionized Be interstitials and group III self-interstitial ions (Ga, In) in all their states of positive charge including neutral. Numerical solutions of the differential equations, corresponding to the considered system of diffusion reactions, have been calculated using the finite difference approach and our elaborate finite difference-Bairstow method. Such a model naturally emerges from most research works, including ours, in the considered field, over the last decades and makes it possible to “reconcile” their different diffusion models. In this study, we also present and analyze the Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS) profiles of the distribution of implanted Be in GaAs at an energy of 100 keV with a high dose of 1.0 ⋅ 1015cm−2 and annealed at temperatures ranging from 700 to 850 °C for à time ranging from 60 to 240s.

Achieving neutral-tinted and energy-efficient electrochromic device enabled by sputtered tungsten-niobium-oxygen film for smart windows

WO3 based electrochromic device (ECD) is becoming the mostly-used one for smart windows, however, in WO3 tinted state, the intrinsically deep blue and strong infrared (IR) light absorption, resulting in a habitant discomfortableness and also an enhanced thermal gain from the heated device surface, severely restrict its diversified applications. Herein, we firstly conduct a kind of columnarly-grown and amorphous WO3 film with high concentration of niobium doping (Nb/(Nb+W) = 54.1 at.%). This film is fabricated via sputtering a home-made ceramic target, and subsequently improved by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Comparing with the conventional WO3, the newly-established system owns not only basic EC properties comprising large light modulation range, fast response, and long-term electrochemically cyclic stability, but also a neutral-tinted color (a* = −1.5, b* = 1.0) as well as a relatively lower IR absorption (63.7 %) in tinted state. These outstanding performances enable the assembled ECD with neutral color (a* = 0.6, b* = −2.7) and a higher energy efficiency in cutting down the interior space air temperature about 4.3 °C in its fully-tinted state, underscoring the potential of the tungsten-niobium-oxygen for commercially viable ECDs.

Wetting state and mechanical property alteration for the Fe3Si films using rapid thermal annealing under various temperatures

The current research demonstrates the modification of the wetting behavior and mechanical features as well as structure and morphology of Fe3Si films created via facing target sputtering by the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with the set RTA temperatures (TRTA) of 200, 400, 600, and 800 °C. Following the RTA process, the crystallinity of Fe3Si developed under 400 °C or below. At the 600 °C and 800 °C TRTA, new crystal orientations emerged for FeSi and then β-FeSi2, respectively. Together with composition results, the Fe3Si films were proven to change into FeSi and then FeSi2 under a high TRTA regime. At temperatures of 600 °C and 800 °C, large crystallites, including the scraggly interface, were observed. The root-mean-square roughness roughened slightly according to the RTA process at TRTA of 600 °C or above. The hydrophobic properties of the Fe3Si film surfaces became hydrophilic after the RTA procedure at a TRTA value above 400 °C. The hardness value of the Fe3Si films evidently increased through RTA at 600 °C and 800 °C. Thus, above 400 °C, the RTA process significantly alters the physical features of as-created Fe3Si films.

Rapid Fabrication of Metal-Nitrogen Doped Ordered Large-Pore Mesoporous Carbons Using Bottle Brush Block Copolymer Templates for Highly Efficient Water Oxidation

We describe a simple and fast method to fabricate ordered mesoporous carbon materials for electrocatalyst applications. Over the past decades, mesoporous carbons have been widely applied for photonics, energy storage devices, separation technologies, and electrocatalyst applications.1 These materials can be inexpensively prepared and have good electrical conductivity and chemical and mechanical stability. Linear block copolymer templates or polystyrene beads are widely used to create porosity in carbon materials. However, the existing methods have limitations in accessing a wide range of pore dimensions and porosities. Recently bottlebrush block copolymer (BBCP) templates have drawn significant attention for producing ordered carbon materials with ordered pores with tunable diameters ranging from 15 to 100 nm, which facilitates ion diffusion and mass transport during the electrochemical processes while maintaining high surface area.2 BBCP-derived large-pore mesoporous carbons are potential candidates for electrocatalyst applications. While water splitting produces hydrogen gas, oxygen gas simultaneously evolves via an oxygen evolution reaction (OER) or water oxidation.3 In OER, oxygen-oxygen bond formation involves a complicated proton-coupled mechanism. For this reason, most OER electrocatalysts require a high overpotential to overcome the sluggish kinetic energy barrier to generate oxygen gas during water oxidation, which is often associated with high costs and poor availability.4 Hence, developing a low-cost, highly efficient OER catalyst is necessary to lower the overpotential.Herein, we demonstrate efficient metal-nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon materials using a simple and fast rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. BBCP/precursor self-assembly, carbonization and template removal using the RTA process (high heating rate up to 100 °C / sec) occurred within a few minutes. The resulting electrocatalysts were characterized by small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), and Raman spectroscopy. We used nickel foam as a support under basic conditions for electrochemical evaluation. The results showed ample catalytic active sites and an overpotential of <260 mV along with a low Tafel value of 55 mV/decade at a current density of 10 mA/cm2. Our findings can have significant implications for designing various metal-doped mesoporous carbon materials for energy and environmental applications, specifically metal-air batteries and CO2 reduction. References H.-F. Fei, W. Li, S. Nuguri, H.-J. Yu, B. M. Yavitt, W. Fan and J. J. Watkins, Chemistry of Materials, 32, 6055 (2020).H.-F. Fei, B. M. Yavitt, S. Nuguri, Y.-G. Yu and J. J. Watkins, Macromolecules, 54, 10943 (2021).D. Saha, V. Patel, P. R. Selvaganapathy and P. Kruse, Nanoscale Advances, 4, 125 (2022).H. Zhou, F. Yu, J. Sun, R. He, S. Chen, C.-W. Chu and Z. Ren, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 114, 5607 (2017).

Investigation of interdiffusion in thin films of ZnO/ZnCdO grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) was used to determine the composition, uniformity, impurity, and elemental depth profiles of Zn, Cd, and O in ZnCdO/ZnO thin film deposited on differently oriented Al2O3 substrates using molecular beam epitaxy technique. For the films deposited under the same condition, it was observed that the variation of Zn/Cd/O ratios is dependent on substrate orientation and highly depends on the growth parameters. The composition and thickness variation, in relationship with two different substrates orientations, were explored with RBS, scanning electron microscopy, and photoluminescence measurements. It was found that ZnCdO films deposited on r- oriented ZnO buffers exhibit much less surface roughness and intermixing after the rapid thermal processing annealing is less extensive.

Improvement of piezoelectric properties of epitaxial (K,Na)NbO3 thin films grown on Si substrates

Lead-free epitaxial (K0.47Na0.53)NbO3 (KNN) thin films were fabricated on (001)SrRuO3/Pt/ZrO2/Si substrates by RF magnetron sputtering at 650 °C and were post-annealed at the same 650 °C by a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The crystal structure of epitaxial KNN thin films were changed by RTA, i.e. the lattice parameter c in the out-of-plane direction decreased instead of an increase of the parameter a in the in-plane direction. The displacement–electric field curve of the RTA-annealed KNN thin films was symmetrical and the shift of the polarization reversal field was smaller than in the KNN thin films annealed by a conventional furnace. This means that RTA is effective in compensating for oxygen vacancies as well as suppressing the generation of A-site vacancies at the interface between the thin film and the substrate. The converse piezoelectric coefficient ∣e 31,f ∣ of the epitaxial KNN/Si unimorph cantilever was found to improve by up to 7.7 C m−2 due to the decrease in defect density resulting from RTA.

Improved RF power performance of InAlN/GaN HEMT by optimizing rapid thermal annealing process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications

Improved radio-frequency (RF) power performance of InAlN/GaN high electron mobility transistor (HEMT) is achieved by optimizing the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process for high-performance low-voltage terminal applications. By optimizing the RTA temperature and time, the optimal annealing condition is found to enable low parasitic resistance and thus a high-performance device. Besides, compared with the non-optimized RTA HEMT, the optimized one demonstrates smoother ohmic metal surface morphology and better heterojunction quality including the less degraded heterojunction sheet resistance and clearer heterojunction interfaces as well as negligible material out-diffusion from the barrier to the channel and buffer. Benefiting from the lowered parasitic resistance, improved maximum output current density of 2279 mA⋅mm−1 and higher peak extrinsic transconductance of 526 mS⋅mm−1 are obtained for the optimized RTA HEMT. In addition, due to the superior heterojunction quality, the optimized HEMT shows reduced off-state leakage current of 7 × 10−3 mA⋅mm−1 and suppressed current collapse of only 4%, compared with those of 1 × 10−1 mA⋅mm−1 and 15% for the non-optimized one. At 8 GHz and V DS of 6 V, a significantly improved power-added efficiency of 62% and output power density of 0.71 W⋅mm−1 are achieved for the optimized HEMT, as the result of the improvement in output current, knee voltage, off-state leakage current, and current collapse, which reveals the tremendous advantage of the optimized RTA HEMT in high-performance low-voltage terminal applications.

Enhanced photocatalytic activity of cubic ZnSn(OH)6 by in-situ partial phase transformation via rapid thermal annealing

In this study, a mixed phase ZnSn(OH)6/ZnSnO3 photocatalyst was synthesized by calcining ZHS nanostructures via rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The composition ratio of ZnSn(OH)6/ZnSnO3 was controlled by changing the duration of the RTA process. The obtained mixed-phase photocatalyst was characterized by X-ray diffraction, field emission scanning electron microscopy, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, UV–vis diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy, photoluminescence, and physisorption analysis. Results showed that ZnSn(OH)6/ZnSnO3 photocatalyst obtained by calcining ZHS at 300 °C for 20 sec displayed the best photocatalytic performance under UVC light illumination. Under optimized reaction conditions, ZHS-20 (0.125 g) demonstrated nearly complete removal (>99%) of MO dye in 150 min. Scavenger study revealed the predominant role of OH• in photocatalysis. The enhanced photocatalytic activity of the ZnSn(OH)6/ZnSnO3 composites was mainly ascribed to the photosensitization of ZHS by ZTO and effective electron-hole separation at the ZnSn(OH)6/ZnSnO3 heterojunction interface. It is expected that this study will provide new research input for the development of photocatalyst through thermal annealing-induced partial phase transformation.

Radiation and Emission Phenomena in Combination

Radiation and Emission Phenomena in Combination

Excellent Uniformity and Properties of Micro-Meter Thick Lead Zirconate Titanate Coatings with Rapid Thermal Annealing.

Lead zirconate titanate (PZT) films have shown great potential in piezoelectric micro-electronic-mechanical system (piezo-MEMS) owing to their strong piezoelectric response. However, the fabrication of PZT films on wafer-level suffers with achieving excellent uniformity and properties. Here, we successfully prepared perovskite PZT films with similar epitaxial multilayered structure and crystallographic orientation on 3-inch silicon wafers, by introducing a rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. Compared to films without RTA treatment, these films exhibit (001) crystallographic orientation at certain composition that expecting morphotropic phase boundary. Furthermore, dielectric, ferroelectric and piezoelectric properties on different positions only fluctuate within 5%. The relatively dielectric constant, loss, remnant polarization and transverse piezoelectric coefficient are 850, 0.1, 38 μC/cm2 and -10 C/m2, respectively. Both uniformity and properties have reached the requirement for the design and fabrication of piezo-MEMS devices. This broadens the design and fabrication criteria for piezo-MEMS, particularly for piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers.

Ultrafast RTA induced the structural properties of the deficient oxygen β-Ga2O3 film

The RF-sputtered β-Ga2O3 films prepared on sapphire substrates were treated by rapid thermal annealing (RTA) with an ultrafast processing time of 30 s. The effects of RTA at different process temperatures from 600 to 800 °C on the β-Ga2O3 films were researched. Meanwhile, the schematic diagram for the RTA-induced lattice expansion of films was proposed. The experimental results showed that the variation of Ga oxidation states and lattice oxygen was demonstrated, revealing a greater value of lattice oxygen at 700 °C. The (-201) orientation of Ga2O3 films is observed at 700 °C and 800 °C, where the (111) orientation additionally appeared at 800 °C. The larger grain size and interplanar distance of 4.71 Å for the (−201) orientation were also obtained at 700 °C, accounting for the high-quality β-Ga2O3 films and their lattice expansion. As a result, this RF-sputtered β-Ga2O3 films via the RTA process not only provide a new reference condition but also suitable for optoelectronic devices requiring control of crystallizing temperature and lattice variation.

Design and Analysis of High-Performance and Small-Size Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors

In this article, a rapid thermal process is proposed to manufacture piezoresistance to improve the performance of piezoresistive devices, and an absolute piezoresistive pressure sensor is prepared by anodic bonding between silicon film and glass with the cavity to reduce the size of the device. The size of the sensor is only <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1.0\times 1.0\times0.513$ </tex-math></inline-formula> mm. At the same time, the arrangement of piezoresistance is optimized by the finite element method. In addition, the deformation of the diaphragm is measured with a profiler, which verified the feasibility of Ti as the absorption of oxygen generated in the anodic bonding process. In the pressure range of 0–200 kPa, the output voltage and nonlinearity of the pressure sensor prepared by the rapid thermal annealing (RTP) process are 91.6 mV and 0.14%FSO, respectively, and the temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and the temperature coefficient of sensitivity (TCS) are 571 and −1676 ppm/°C respectively. Compared with the pressure sensor prepared by the common piezoresistive process, the TCR and TCS of the designed sensor are reduced by 73% and 24%, respectively, which has the advantages of high output voltage, low TCR and TCS, and small-size.

Characterization of Cu(In,Ga)(Te,S)2 thin films grown on stainless steel foil substrates

In this study, Cu(In,Ga)(Te,S)2 (CIGTS) thin films with [Ga]/([In] ± [Ga]) atomic ratios in the ranges of 0.22–0.28 and 0.50–0.67 were fabricated using a two-stage technique. During the first stage of the technique, in one set of samples, Cu, In and Ga layers were deposited by electrodeposition on a Mo coated stainless steel (SS) foil substrate forming a SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga precursor structure. For another set of samples, a Te layer was also deposited by e-beam evaporation on the SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga structure forming a SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga/Te precursor structure. During the second stage, SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga and SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga/Te stacks were reacted using rapid thermal annealing (RTA) for 5 min at 600 °C with or without presence of S vapors to produce CIGTS series thin films. SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga stack under S atmosphere yielded CuInGaS2 with a Ga-In gradient across the thickness by RTA process. SS/Mo/Cu/In/Ga/Te stack reacted without S in the reaction atmosphere yielded the CuInGaTe2 compound. When S was present, the same stack with top Te layer yielded only CuInGaS2 compound. When, however, already formed CuInGaTe2 compound layers were heated in S environment at 400 °C, some Te could be retained in the films in the form of elemental Te. Gallium and In grading in various reacted films were evaluated by x-ray diffraction, secondary-ion mass spectrometry and EDS. CIGTS films showed highly (112) preferred oriented chalcopyrite phase and with the increase of Ga content, shifts were observed in the XRD peak positions demonstrating Ga inclusion in the lattice. Gibbs free energy calculations were used to explain the preferred reaction of S with metallic constituents when both S and Te were present for reaction.

Low temperature atomic hydrogen annealing of InGaAs MOSFETs

Recent work showing a strong quality improvement of the Si/SiO2 material system by low temperature atomic hydrogen annealing (AHA), and the fact that III–V semiconductors outperform Si in many applications makes the investigation of AHA on III–V/high-k interfaces to a very interesting topic. In this work, the potential of AHA as a low temperature annealing treatment of InGaAs metal–oxide–semiconductor field-effect transistors is presented and compared to conventional annealing in a rapid thermal process (RTP) system using forming gas. It is found that post metal annealing in atomic hydrogen greatly enhances the quality of the metal–oxide–semiconductor structure in terms of effective mobility, minimum subthreshold swing, and reliability. The device performance is comparable to RTP annealing but can be performed at a lower temperature, which opens up for integration of more temperature-sensitive materials in the device stack.

Inhibited Degradation of Organic–Inorganic Perovskite-Based Quantum Dot Films via Rapid Annealing Temperatures

General hot-plate heating is used to form a crystal structure of films; however, how to achieve a homogeneous and regulated crystal formation will be a crucial challenge in the future. In this study, based on perovskite-series materials, organic methylamine lead trioxide (MAPbI3) films doped with inorganic lead iodide (CsPbI3) quantum dots (QDs) are treated using the rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process in argon gas to break the crystallization barrier. These RTA-treated perovskite quantum dot (PQD) films at various temperatures of 100–160 °C are detected using X-ray diffraction, X-ray spectroscopy, and absorbance measurements to investigate their structural and optical properties as well as their binding states. The experimental results demonstrate that the PQD film annealed at 120 °C has optimized characteristics, revealing better crystallinity and the lowest content of oxygen atoms (31.4%) and C-O-C bonding (20.1%). A too-high RTA temperature, more than 140 °C, causes severe degradation with the existence of PbI2. A proper RTA process, an alternative to normal heating and annealing, can effectively inhibit the occurrence of degradation and even usefully improve the performance of PQD films.

Microstructure Evolution with Rapid Thermal Annealing Time in (001)-Oriented Piezoelectric PZT Films Integrated on (111) Si.

In our recently published paper (Y.-Y. Wang et al., High performance LaNiO3-buffered, (001)-oriented PZT piezoelectric films integrated on (111) Si, Appl. Phys. Lett. 121, 182902, 2022), highly (001)-oriented PZT films with a large transverse piezoelectric coefficient e31,f prepared on (111) Si substrates were reported. This work is beneficial for the development of piezoelectric micro-electro-mechanical systems (Piezo-MEMS) because of (111) Si's isotropic mechanical properties and desirable etching characteristics. However, the underlying mechanism for the achievement of a high piezoelectric performance in these PZT films going through a rapid thermal annealing process has not been thoroughly analyzed. In this work, we present complete sets of data in microstructure (XRD, SEM and TEM) and electrical properties (ferroelectric, dielectric and piezoelectric) for these films with typical annealing times of 2, 5, 10 and 15 min. Through data analyses, we revealed competing effects in tuning the electrical properties of these PZT films, i.e., the removal of residual PbO and proliferation of nanopores with an increasing annealing time. The latter turned out to be the dominating factor for a deteriorated piezoelectric performance. Therefore, the PZT film with the shortest annealing time of 2 min showed the largest e31,f piezoelectric coefficient. Furthermore, the performance degradation occurred in the PZT film annealed for 10 min can be explained by a film morphology change, which involved not only the change in grain shape, but also the generation of a large amount of nanopores near its bottom interface.

Sputtering Al2O3 enhanced bandgap engineering for integrated photonic devices

We present experimental results of the application of Sputtering enhanced Quantum Well Intermixing (QWI) process, where the bandgap of InGaAsP/InP quantum well laser microstructure is effectively modified by intermixing quantum well and potential barrier layers through sputtering Al2O3-QWI. This technique creates point defects through plasma induced disordering in the process of sputtering Al2O3. The subsequent Rapid thermal Anneal (RTA) process is performed to increase the diffusion rate and quantum well intermixing. This results in an increased transitional energy and hence it modifies the bandgap essential for the development of next generation complex photonic integrated circuits (ICs). We report a large bandgap blue shift of 144 nm is achievable with a very high increase in photoluminescence (PL) intensity. The experimental results of the bandgap shifted waveguides and laser diodes are presented. Photoluminescence (PL) measurements of InGaAsP/InP laser structure were taken before and after Al2O3-QWI process. The proposed technique can provide reliable and fast post-growth wafer level fabrication of photonic devices monolithically.

Optimizing Photonic Annealing Technique for High-k Dielectric of Full-Solution-Processed Oxide Thin Film Transistor

In this article, it is demonstrated that the photonic annealing process of ultraviolet (UV) irradiation or rapid thermal annealing (RTA)-assisted LA technique can effectively enhance the bias and illumination stability of full-solution-processed oxide thin film transistor (TFT). Although both post-annealing treatments have comparable effects, UV irradiation has relatively less heat loss and time consumption of only 3 min, compared to the RTA process that heats at a temperature of 400 °C and holds 10 min. Depending on the laser annealing (LA)/UV technique, the amorphous hafnium-aluminum oxide (HAO) dielectric thin film exhibits a smooth surface with an rms value of 0.293 nm, a high optical bandgap of 6.19 eV, and good dielectric performance with high dielectric constants of 12.9, low leakage current densities, and high breakdown field of about 4 MV/cm. Moreover, full-solution-processed indium-tin-oxide (ITO)–HAO–tungsten-zinc-tin-oxide (WZTO) TFT shows excellent overall properties with the mobility ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu $ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) of 10.65 cm <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$^{{2}}\cdot \text{V}^{-{1}}\cdot \text{s}^{-{1}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> , subthreshold swing (SS) of 198 mV/dec. And the device has good bias and illumination stability, especially the threshold voltage ( <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">${V}_{T}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ) shifts are all less than 3 V under positive bias illumination stress (PBIS) and negative bias illumination stress (NBIS) testing for 10000 s. These indicate the potential for the photonic annealing process of the UV-assisted LA technique on improving the stability of the full-solution-processed TFTs, which is attributed to high-throughput fabrication for large-area, transparent, and flexible electronics.

Energy Storage Properties of Sol-Gel-Processed SrTiO3 Films.

Dielectric films with a high energy storage density and a large breakdown strength are promising material candidates for pulsed power electrical and electronic applications. Perovskite-type dielectric SrTiO3 (STO) has demonstrated interesting properties desirable for capacitive energy storage, including a high dielectric constant, a wide bandgap and a size-induced paraelectric-to-ferroelectric transition. To pave a way toward large-scale production, STO film capacitors were deposited on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates by the sol-gel method in this paper, and their electrical properties including the energy storage performance were studied as a function of the annealing temperature in the postgrowth rapid thermal annealing (RTA) process. The appearance of a ferroelectric phase at a high annealing temperature of 750 °C was revealed by X-ray diffraction and electrical characterizations (ferroelectric P-E loop). However, this high dielectric constant phase came at the cost of a low breakdown strength and a large hysteresis loss, which are not desirable for the energy storage application. On the other hand, when the RTA process was performed at a low temperature of 550 °C, a poorly crystallized perovskite phase together with a substantial amount of impurity phases appeared, resulting in a low breakdown strength as well as a very low dielectric constant. It is revealed that the best energy storage performance, which corresponds to a large breakdown strength and a medium dielectric constant, is achieved in STO films annealed at 650 °C, which showed a large energy density of 55 J/cm3 and an outstanding energy efficiency of 94.7% (@ 6.5 MV/cm). These findings lay out the foundation for processing high-quality STO film capacitors via the manufacturing-friendly sol-gel method.