Low temperature fabrication of high-performance VO2 film via embedding low vanadium buffer layer

• Published in: Applied surface science Vol. 517; p. 146101
• Main Authors: Xiang, Zihao, Wu, Zhiming, Ji, Chunhui, Shi, Yuanlin, Dai, Jinhong, Huang, Zhangying, Xu, Wen, Dong, Xiang, Wang, Jun, Jiang, Yadong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.07.2020
• Subjects: Buffer layer; Electronic properties; High performance; Low temperature fabrication; Vanadium oxide; Buffer layer; Low temperature fabrication; High performance; Vanadium oxide; Electronic properties
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.146101

[Display omitted] •Annealing temperature can be reduced to 320 °C.•The composition of the low-valence vanadium buffer layer can be adjusted.•V2O3 in the buffer layer is the key factor to improve the phase transformation performance of the composite film.•Electrical phase transition amplitude is close to four orders of magnitude.•The loop width is less than 5 °C. Vanadium dioxide (VO2), which can initiate an automatic reversible metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) from tetragonal to monoclinic structure at the transition temperature (Tc) of 68 °C, is a promising candidate to realize electronic devices due to its dramatic changes in electrical resistivity through MIT. Moreover, the application of VO2 on modulation devices requires a narrow hysteresis width associated with a significant change in its electronic properties, which is quite challenging in VO2 films fabricated by magnetron sputtering, besides, the high preparation temperature around 400 °C also hinders the further industrial production of VO2 films. In this paper, by adding a simple and easy-to-obtain low-valence vanadium buffer layer between the substrate and the VO2 layer, high performance VO2 films with electrical phase transition close to four orders of magnitude and loop width less than 5 °C are obtained. Meanwhile, the annealing temperature of the fabricating process is decreased to only 320 °C, which is 80 °C lower than the ordinary preparation temperature and significantly reducing energy consumption and manufacturing difficulty. Such enhanced performance will benefit the publicity and application for VO2-based modulation devices.