Oxidation potential control of VO2 thin films by metal oxide co-sputtering

For metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in vanadium oxide thin film, a thermodynamically stable vanadium dioxide (VO₂) phase is essential. In VO₂ films sputter-deposited on a quartz substrate from a V₂O₅ target, a radio-frequency (RF) magnetron sputter system at working pressure of 7 mTorr is used. Due to the lower sputtering yield of oxygen compared to vanadium leading to oxygen-ion deficiency, the reduction of V ions is resulted to compensate charge with the oxygen ions. Under lower working pressures, the deposition rate increases, but a simultaneous oxygen-ion deficiency causes the destabilization of VO₂. To prevent this, titanium oxide co-deposition is suggested to enrich the oxygen source. When TiO₂ is used, it is found that the Ti ion has a stable +4 charge state so that the use of extra oxygen in sputtering prevents the destabilization of VO₂. However, this is not the case for TiO. For the latter, Ti ions are oxidized from the +2 state to the +3 and +4 states, and V ions with less oxidation potential are reduced to +3 or so. Pure VO₂ thin film exhibits MIT at 66 °C and a large resistivity ratio of four orders of magnitude from 30 to 90 °C. The (V₂O₅ + TiO₂) system under working pressure as low as 5 mTorr yields fairly good films comparable to pure VO₂ deposited at 7 mTorr, whereas the use of TiO yields films with MIT absent or considerably weakened.