Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-hc48f Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T21:08:29.187Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

High Quality Epitaxial V2O3 Thin Films: A Material for Infrared Switching Devices?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 February 2011

H. Schuler
Affiliation:
Lehrstuhl fuer Experimentalphysik II, Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Augsburg, Memminger Strasse 6, D-86159 Augsburg, [email protected]
S. Grigoriev
Affiliation:
Lehrstuhl fuer Experimentalphysik II, Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Augsburg, Memminger Strasse 6, D-86159 Augsburg, [email protected]
S. Horn
Affiliation:
Lehrstuhl fuer Experimentalphysik II, Institut fuer Physik, Universitaet Augsburg, Memminger Strasse 6, D-86159 Augsburg, [email protected]
Get access

Abstract

The compound V20O13 undergoes a metal-insulator-transition (MIT) at T=150K with an optical gap in the insulating phase of ∼0.6eV. Therefore epitaxial films of V2O3 are of interest for infrared (IR) applications. We present the results of a systematic study of the growth conditions of such films utilizing electronic transport and infrared transmission measurements in addition to studies of crystal and microstructure.

Epitaxial V2O3 thin films were grown in a reactive oxygen atmosphere on c-axis oriented sapphire substrates by electron beam evaporation. While V2O3 single crystals show a MIT in a narrow temperature range ΔT < 1K, the MIT broadened in epitaxial thin films due to defects and stress induced by the film-substrate interaction.

In our study we defined the quality of the films by the width ΔT of the transition and the change of resistivity p and IR transmission at the MIT. We found the most important growth parameter to be the growth temperature. Only in a narrow region around 600°C the growth of high quality films was observed. The optical constants of such films were determined from IR transmission measurements in combination with an oscillator fit method. While the spectra in both the metallic and the insulting phase are dominated by d-d-transitions for photon energies above leV, in the IR region (λ > 2μm) a high transmission contrast between the two phases was almost independent of the wavelength. This behavior suggests e.g. applications as a non mechanical IR shutter or as switchable interference filter in the IR regime.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 1997

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

1. Carter, S.A., Yang, J., Rosenbaum, T.F., Spalek, J. and Honig, J.M. Phys. Rev B 43 (1) p. 607614 (1991)Google Scholar
2. Yethiraj, M., J. Sol. State Chem., 88, p. 5369 (1990)Google Scholar
3. Thomas, G.A., Rapkine, D.H., Carter, S.A., Millis, A.J., Rosenbaum, T.F., Metcalf, P. and Honig, J.M., Phys. Rev. Let. 73 (11) p. 15291532 (1994)Google Scholar
4. Garbuzov, D.Z., Zaitsev, S.V., Ptashnik, V.B., Tarasov, I.S. and Chudnivskii, F.A. Sov. Phys. Tech. Phys. 34 (10) p.11991201 (1990)Google Scholar
5. Rogers, K.D., Coath, J.A. and Lovell, M.C., J. Appl. Phys. 70 (3) p. 14121415 (1991)Google Scholar
6. Schuier, H., Klimm, S., and Horn, S., Mat. Res. Soc. Symp. Proc. Vol. 441 (1997)Google Scholar
7. Mattheus, J.W., Blakeslee, A.E.; J. Cryst. Growth 27 (118) (1974)Google Scholar
8. Goodenough, J.B., Proc. 10th. Int. Conf. on the Physics of Semiconductors, p. 304310 (1970)Google Scholar