Abstract
Thin films of vanadium oxide($VO_{x}$) have been deposited by r.f. magnetron sputtering from $V_{2}O_{5}$ target in gas mixture of argon and oxygen. The oxygen/(oxygen+argon) partial pressure ratio of 0% and 8% is adopted. Crystal structure, chemical composition, molecular structure and optical properties of films sputter-deposited under different oxygen gas pressures and in-situ annealed in vacuum at $400^{\circ}C$ for 1h and 4h are characterized through XRD. RBS, FTlR and optical absorption measurements. The films as-deposited are amorphous and those annealed for time longer than 4h are polycrystalline. $V_{2}O_{5}$ and lower oxides co-exist in sputter-deposited films and as the oxygen partial pressure is increased the films become more stoichiometric $V_{2}O_{5}$. When annealed at $400^{\circ}C$, the as-deposited films are reduced to a lower oxide. It is observed that the oxygen atoms located on the V-O plane of $V_{2}O_{5}$ layer participate more readily in the oxidation and reduction process. The optical transmission of the films annealed in vacuum decreases considerably than the as-deposited films and the optical absorption of all the films increases rapidly between 400 and 550nm.