Effects of Vacuum Annealing on the Electrical Properties of Sputtered Vanadium Oxide Thin Films

스퍼터된 바나듐 산화막의 전기적 특성에 미치는 진공 어닐링의 효과

The effects of oxygen partial pressure and vacuum annealing on the electrical properties of sputtered vanadium oxide($VO_x$) thin films were investigated. The thin films were prepared by r.f. magnetron sputtering from $V_2O_5$ target in a gas mixture of argon and oxygen. The oxygen/(oxygen+argon) partial pressure ratio of 0% and 8% is adopted. Electrical 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 electrical conductivity measurements. I-V characteristics were distinguished between linear and nonlinear region. In the low field region the conduction is due to Schottky emission, while at high fields it changes to Fowler-Nordheim tunneling type conduction. The conductivity measurements have shown an Arrhenius dependence of the conductivity on the temperature.