Fabrication of smooth thin film of vanadium oxides (VOx) using pulsed laser deposition

• Published in: Applied physics. A, Materials science & processing Vol. 126; no. 3
• Main Authors: Bhardwaj, Devanshi, Singh, Deependra Kumar, Krupanidhi, S. B., Umarji, A. M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.03.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Applied physics; Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Condensed Matter Physics; Current State-Of-The-Art in Laser Ablation; Gas pressure; Lasers; Machines; Manufacturing; Materials science; Mathematical models; Nanotechnology; Optical and Electronic Materials; Parameters; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Processes; Pulsed laser deposition; Pulsed lasers; S.I. : Current State-Of-The-Art in Laser Ablation; Silicon dioxide; Silicon substrates; Surface roughness; Surfaces and Interfaces; Synergistic effect; Thin Films; Vanadium oxides; Vanadium oxides; Pulsed laser deposition; Taguchi; Smooth films; Raman spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0947-8396; 1432-0630
• DOI: 10.1007/s00339-020-3310-5

We report the synthesis of vanadium oxide thin films by the pulsed laser deposition under different parameter conditions on Si/SiO 2 substrates using V 2 O 5 target. The objective of the present work was to achieve smooth VO 2 thin film in a single step. Synergistic effect of the deposition parameters on the phase of vanadium oxides is studied by a series of experiments designed using Taguchi analysis. Conditions for depositing different oxides of vanadium like VO 2 , V 2 O 3 , V 3 O 5 and a new phase, V 7 O 16 was established. The range of parameters varied were: gas pressure: 10 - 3 –5 × 10 - 2 mbar; temperature: 500–700  ∘ C; target-substrate distance: 30–40 mm and laser energy: 100–200 mJ. VO 2 film with surface roughness of 3.68 nm having a semiconductor-to-metal transition (SMT) at 72  ∘ C with 2–3 orders of resistance change was achieved. Taguchi model was statistically analyzed to determine the suitable condition as well as effect of deposition parameters to obtain phase pure VO 2 thin film. The optimum condition for deposition was found to be: gas pressure: 5 × 10 - 2 mbar; temperature: 600  ∘ C; distance: 35 mm, and laser energy: 200 mJ after analyzing using Taguchi model.