Thermochromic characteristics of Ti-doped VO2 thin film

Utilizing metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) properties of V-oxide film, stable VO2 phase is necessary. In sputtering deposition of VO2, simple target preparation and high deposition rate are recommendable. For this, VO2 film was deposited on quartz substrate by RF magnetron sputter system under low working pressure using V2O5 target. Due to the lower sputtering yield of oxygen compared to vanadium, oxygen ion contents is usually deficient from that of target. So, the reduction of V ions was a result of charge compensation with the oxygen ions. Under lower working pressure, deposition rate become higher so that this deficiency is getting larger to cause further reduction to destabilize VO2. Preventing this, titanium oxide co-deposition was suggested to enrich oxygen source. When TiO2 was used, Ti ion has stable +4 charge state so that extra oxygen sputtered prevents V ion reduction below +4 state. But, in case of TiO, Ti ions were oxidized from +2 to +3 and +4 state and V ions with less oxidation potential should be reduced to +3 or so. Pure VO2 film had MIT at 66$^{\circ}$C and large resistivity ratio of 4 orders of magnitude from 30$^{\circ}$C to 90$^{\circ}$C. Under low working pressure, (V2O5 + TiO2) system yield fairly good films, while films with poor or absence of MIT were produced with TiO case.