Synthesis of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films on Conducting Oxides and Metal–Insulator Transition Characteristics

We report on growth and physical properties of vanadium dioxide \((VO_2)\) films on model conducting oxide underlayers (Nb-doped \(SrTiO_3\) and \(RuO_2\) buffered \(TiO_2\) single crystals). The \(VO_2\) films, synthesized by rf sputtering, are highly textured as seen from X-ray diffraction. The \(VO_2\) film grown on Nb doped \(SrTiO_3\) shows over two orders of magnitude metal–insulator transition, while \(VO_2\) film on \(RuO_2\) buffered \(TiO_2\) shows a smaller resistance change but with an interesting two step transition. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy has been performed as a function of depth on both sets of structures to provide mechanistic understanding of the transition characteristics. We then investigate voltage-driven transition in the \(VO_2\) films grown on Nb-doped \(SrTiO_3\) substrate as a function of temperature. The present study contributes to efforts towards correlated oxide electronics utilizing phase transitions.