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Composition evolution and electrical properties of VO2 thin films induced by annealing temperature

  • Original Paper: Nano-structured materials (particles, fibers, colloids, composites, etc.)
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Abstract

In this study, vanadium dioxide thin films were fabricated on Al2O3 (0001) substrates by sol-gel method and subsequent annealing process. The effects of annealing temperature on the structure, chemical state, surface morphology and electrical properties of the films were systematically studied. The results displayed that with the annealing temperature increasing up to 520 °C, the composition evolution experienced four processes: the reduction of V5+ to V4+ (or V3+), the comproportionation of V5+/V3+ to V4+, the oxidation of V3+ to V4+, and the secondary reduction of V5+ to V3+. Accompanied with the secondary reduction at 520 °C, the disappearance of grain boundaries was observed on the film surface. Furthermore, as the annealing temperature increased from 420 °C to 470 °C and then 520 °C, the prepared films showed good phase transition property with the resistance change up to nearly four orders of magnitude, and the phase transition temperatures were 62.8 °C, 61.8 °C and 61.1 °C respectively, showing a slow downward trend. The results not only revealed the mutual transformation of various vanadium oxides during the annealing treatment, but also supplied some clues for optimizing the parameters for VO2 film preparation with high quality.

VO2 (M) thin films have been prepared by sol-gel method and subsequent annealing in high-purity nitrogen atmosphere. With the increase of annealing temperature, the evolution of film composition experiences four stages, namely, the reduction process (V5+ → V4+/V3+) below 370 °C, the comproportionation reaction from 370 °C to 420 °C (V5+ + V3+ → V4+), the oxidation process from 420 °C to 470 °C (V3+ → V4+) and the secondary reduction process from 470 °C to 520 °C (V5+ → V3+). When the annealing temperatures are set at 420 °C, 470 °C and 520 °C, the obtained VO2 films show good phase transition characteristics with the resistance changes up to nearly four orders of magnitude, and the related phase transition temperatures display a monotonic decreasing trend.

Highlights

  • VO2 films were prepared on Al2O3 (0001) by sol-gel method and subsequent annealing process.

  • The composition evolution image with annealing temperature is proposed in terms of XPS results.

  • Accompanied by the secondary reduction process, the grain boundaries disappear synchronously.

  • Both the Tc and the hysteresis width can be reduced by higher annealing temperature.

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Acknowledgements

This work was partially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11903001, U1938109), the Natural Science Research Project of the Higher Education Institutions of Anhui Province (KJ2016A143, KJ2019A0787) and the Doctor Foundation of Anhui Jianzhu University (2020QDZ29). We thank Dr. Yanfang Liu for her helpful discussion on XPS analysis.

Author contribution

QH and GY conceived this project and wrote the manuscript. ZD carried out the experiments and collected the literatures. SB and YL performed the synthesis and characterization of the films. All authors contributed to the general discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Advanced Electronic Materials and Devices, School of Mathematics & Physics, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Haojie Qu, Yuxian Guo, Donghui Zhang & Linli Yan

  2. School of Environment and Energy Engineering, Anhui Jianzhu University, Hefei, 230601, Anhui, People’s Republic of China

    Bai Sun

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  1. Haojie Qu
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Correspondence to Yuxian Guo.

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Qu, H., Guo, Y., Zhang, D. et al. Composition evolution and electrical properties of VO2 thin films induced by annealing temperature. J Sol-Gel Sci Technol 104, 138–146 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10971-022-05912-y

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