Structural and electrochemical properties of vanadium oxide thin films grown by d.c. and r.f. reactive sputtering at room temperature

Vanadium oxide thin films were grown at room temperature by direct current and radio-frequency reactive sputtering systems to compare the structural and electrochemical properties. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry and Fourier transform infrared measurements reveal that the composition of the as-deposited films consists of the V2O5 phase regardless of the deposition methods. Wide-angle X-ray diffraction measurements show that the crystallinity of the as-deposited V2O5 films is different depending on the deposition method. Films deposited by direct current reactive sputtering were amorphous, whereas films deposited by radio-frequency reactive sputtering were crystalline. Scanning electron microscopy measurements show that the V2O5 films grown by radio-frequency reactive sputtering had a large grain size but the films grown by direct current reactive sputtering were amorphous. Charge-discharge measurements taken at room temperature with a constant current clearly indicate that the films grown by direct current sputtering demonstrated typical amorphous behavior, whereas the V2O5 films grown by radio-frequency sputtering demonstrated the discharge behavior of crystalline V2O5. The origin of the structural and electrochemical properties of film grown by radio-frequency reactive sputtering is a self-bias effect. The self-bias effect induces ion bombardment during the growth of vanadium oxide thin film. These results suggest that direct current reactive sputtering is more desirable for growing amorphous V2O5 thin film than radio-frequency reactive sputtering. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.