Effect of substrate and growth method on vanadium dioxide thin films by RF magnetron sputtering*

We explore two methods of vanadium dioxide (VO₂) thin film deposition using off-axis RF magnetron sputtering on (100)- and (111)-oriented yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ): reactive sputtering of vanadium in an oxygen environment and sputtering of vanadium metal followed by oxidation to VO₂. The reactive sputtering process on both substrate orientations yields VO₂ (B), a metastable phase epitaxially stabilized by the YSZ surface. The metal sputtering and oxidation process on YSZ produces mainly the stable M1 phase of VO₂. Using this method, we achieve thin films of (010)-oriented VO₂ (M1) exhibiting a metal-insulator transition with a resistance ratio on the order of 10³.