Effects of Processing Conditions on Vanadium Oxide Films Deposited via Pulsed DC Sputtering
Open Access
Author:
Fieldhouse, Nicholas M.
Graduate Program:
Engineering Science
Degree:
Master of Science
Document Type:
Master Thesis
Date of Defense:
April 07, 2010
Committee Members:
Mark William Horn, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor Mark William Horn, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Keywords:
microbolometers vanadium oxide thin film sputtering
Abstract:
Films were grown via pulsed DC sputtering at 40, 200, and 300$^{circ}$C using different flow rate ratios of oxygen to argon (5\%, 7.5\%, 10\%, and 15\%) at each temperature. Results indicated that films were $approx$100 - 150 nm thick and had resistivity values ranging between $approx$0.4 and 1 ohm$cdot$cm. TCR values were between -0.5 and -2.5\%$^{circ}C^{-1}$. Heating the substrate significantly decreased the resistivity but in some cases only reduced the TCR by a little. In one case the resistivity was decreased by a factor of 10 while the TCR dropped only by 0.2\%. The scanning electron microscope showed that the films had a columnar structure while x-ray diffraction indicated that the films correlated to VO and V$_{2}$O$_{3}$. Optical results from ellipsometry were similar to samples, representative of those used in industry, made via ion beam deposition.
