Observation of in situ oxidation dynamics of vanadium thin film with ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy

The evolution of oxidation/reduction states of vanadium oxide thin film was monitored in situ as a function of oxygen pressure and temperature via ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Spectra analysis showed that VO2 can be grown at a relatively low temperature, T similar to 523 K, and that V2O5 oxide develops rapidly at elevated oxygen pressure. Raman spectroscopy was applied to confirm the formation of VO2 oxide inside of the film. In addition, the temperature-dependent resistivity measurement on the grown thin film, e.g., 20 nm exhibited a desirable metal-insulator transition of VO2 with a resistivity change of similar to 1.5 x 10(3) times at 349.3 K, displaying typical characteristics of thick VO2 film, e.g., 100 nm thick. Our results not only provide important spectroscopic information for the fabrication of vanadium oxides, but also show that high quality VO2 films can be formed at relatively low temperature, which is highly critical for engineering oxide film for heat-sensitive electronic devices. Published by AIP Publishing.