Effect of Post Annealing on the Structural Properties of Vanadium Oxide Thin Film Deposited by RF Sputtering

Objective: To deposit the highly crystalline thin film of vanadium pentoxide on Si substrate. Method: In this work, we deposited vanadium oxide thin films by RF sputtering setup. These deposited thin films were annealed at 500°C for 1 hour in argon atmosphere. Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction (GIXRD), Raman Spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) are used to analyze structural properties of as-deposited and annealed thin films of vanadium oxide. Finding: GIXRD spectra of annealed film revealed that highly crystalline thin film of vanadium pentoxide (V₂O₅) is obtained. The texture of the film is oriented along c- axis, perpendicular to the surface of the Si substrate and it’s a, b axis are parallel to the surface of substrate. Raman Spectroscopy and FTIR results confirmed the layered structure of the annealed vanadium pentoxide thin film. After post annealing, the highly crystalline and layered structure of V₂O₅ thin film on Si substrate is obtained. Applications: Vanadium pentoxide thin films are used in electrochromic devices, lithium batteries, and energy storage devices and as toxic gas sensors.