Amorphous VO$_x$ films with high temperature coefficient of the resistivity grown by reactive e-beam evaporation of V metal

TL;DR

This study demonstrates a simple, low-temperature method to produce amorphous VO$_x$ films with high temperature coefficients of resistivity, suitable for sensitive thermal sensors, with stable properties over time.

Contribution

The paper introduces a novel reactive e-beam evaporation technique for growing amorphous vanadium oxide films with tunable TCR and stable resistivity, expanding potential applications.

Findings

TCR up to -2.2%/K tunable by oxygen pressure

Resistivity remains stable over months

Method is simple and adaptable to various substrates

Abstract

Amorphous VO$_x$ films without a hysteretic phase transition are stable with respect to thermal cycling and highly demanded as sensitive elements of the resistive thermometers and microbolometers. In this paper we present simple and low-temperature growth of amorphous vanadium oxide films by reactive electron beam evaporation of vanadium metal in $\sim 10^{-4}$ mBar oxygen atmosphere. The temperature coefficient of the resistivity (TCR) of the films is weakly sensitive to substrate material and temperature and could be tuned by oxygen pressure in the growth chamber up to -2.2\% /K. The resistivity value is stable for months. It depends on the substrate material and substrate temperature during the evaporation. Simplicity and controllability of the method should lead to various laboratory and industrial applications.