TY  - JOUR
AU  - Rupp, Jonathan A. J.
AU  - Corraze, Benoît
AU  - Besland, Marie-Paule
AU  - Cario, Laurent
AU  - Tranchant, Julien
AU  - Wouters, Dirk J.
AU  - Waser, R.
AU  - Janod, Etienne
TI  - Control of stoichiometry and morphology in polycrystalline V2O3 thin films using oxygen buffers
JO  - Journal of materials science
VL  - 55
IS  - 30
SN  - 1573-4803
CY  - Dordrecht [u.a.]
PB  - Springer Science + Business Media B.V
M1  - FZJ-2020-03874
SP  - 14717 - 14727
PY  - 2020
AB  - In this work, we investigate the influence of low temperature reduction conditions (873 K) by different oxygen buffers on the off-stoichiometry of polycrystalline V2O3 thin films. Vanadium oxide thin films (thickness 300 nm and 100 nm) have been grown by reactive sputtering and have been annealed in a buffered atmosphere subsequently. Buffer couples were chosen throughout the stability range of V2−yO3 (y ≤ 0.03) by the use of different oxygen buffer combinations, namely Ni/NiO, Fe/Fe3O4, Cr/Cr2O3 and Mn/MnO. Thin films have been characterized by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffractometry and low temperature electrical transport measurements. Upon decreasing the oxygen partial pressure, the mean grain size of V2O3 decreases systematically from 45 ± 20 nm with a high porosity to 27 ± 10 nm without porosity. The most favourable reduction conditions have been identified for Fe- and Cr-based couples. Moreover, all thin films reduced by the four buffer couples exhibit high insulator-to-metal transition temperatures (110–155 K) close to the value of ideally stoichiometric V2−yO3 (y < 0.005) (155 K) as well as large changes in resistance at the transition (three to five orders of magnitude). This oxygen buffer method hence provides a valuable synthesis method of highly stoichiometric polycrystalline V2O3 thin films with technological relevance
LB  - PUB:(DE-HGF)16
UR  - <Go to ISI:>//WOS:000549673700005
DO  - DOI:10.1007/s10853-020-05028-0
UR  - https://juser.fz-juelich.de/record/885493
ER  -