Electrical properties of vanadium oxide thin films for bolometer applications: processed by pulse dc sputtering

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Vanadium oxide (VO x ) thin films were deposited on thermally grown silicon oxide substrates using a pure vanadium target in a pulsed dc sputtering technique. Film microstructure, electrical resistivity, temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) and activation energy were studied as a function of the oxygen partial pressure (pO 2 ) and growth temperatures. The mixed valence VO x thin films deposited at various substrate temperatures between 40 and 300 °C exhibited columnar grain structure even though the samples were found to be x-ray amorphous. The TCR and activation energies of the films increased from 0.4% (K −1 ) to 2.4% (K −1 ) and 0.04 eV to 0.28 eV, respectively, by controlling the pO 2 content between depositions. The charge carrier transport in the VO x thin films was found to exhibit conventional and inverse Meyer–Neldel compensation mechanisms depending on the growth conditions.