The ion beam sputtering deposition is a very promising technique for optical coatings and is an excellent something of the deposition parameters. In this work, the Ta2O5 thin films as the substrate temperature (50-200 degreesC) were prepared on the silicon wafer (111) and the glass using the single ion-beam sputtering (SIBS) and dual ion-beam sputtering (DIBS). As the substrate temperature increased, the deposition rate of the SIBS and DIBS increased from 1.08 and 1.07 mum to 1.24 and 1.17 mum. The DIBS process at 150 degreesC deposited films, the refractive index was 2.112. The surface morphologies are found to be improved in the DIBS process and the rms roughness of deposited films was 0.1535 nm, which was smaller than the SIBS (rms=0.1822 nm) process at 150 degreesC deposited. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.