Vanadium Dioxide and Vanadium Sesquioxide Thin Films Fabricated on (0001) or (1010)Al2O3 by Reactive RF-Magnetron Sputter Deposition and Subsequent Annealing Processes

Abstract

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) and vanadium sesquioxide (V2O3) thin films showing an abrupt metal–insulator transition near their typical critical temperature (TC) were successfully fabricated by reactive RF magnetron sputter deposition and subsequent annealing processes. The annealing processes for preparing VO2 and V2O3 films were carried out in 30 mTorr O2 ambient and at a very low pressure (2 ×10-6 Torr), respectively. V2O3 films could be fabricated by the one-step annealing of as-deposited VOx films in contrast to the V2O3 fabrication by the two-step annealing of sol–gel V2O5 films. The annealing temperature for preparing V2O3 films (≥550 °C) was much lower than those reported in earlier works. The dependence of TC on the surface orientation of a single crystalline Al2O3 substrate was also shown for VO2 and V2O3 films. The films fabricated on (1010)-plane Al2O3 substrate showed superior characteristics to those on (0001)-Al2O3.