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Updated: Aug 15, 2025

Atomic Layer Deposition of Vanadium Dioxide and a Temperature-dependent Optical Model
Published on: May 23, 2018
Towards Room Temperature Phase Transition of W-Doped VO2 Thin Films Deposited by Pulsed Laser Deposition:
Yannick Bleu1, Florent Bourquard1, Vincent Barnier2
1Université de Lyon, Université Jean Monnet-Saint-Étienne, CNRS, Institut d'Optique Graduate School, Laboratoire Hubert Curien, UMR 5516, F-42023 Saint-Etienne, France.
Abstract:
Vanadium dioxide (VO2) with an insulator-to-metal (IMT) transition (∼68 °C) is considered a very attractive thermochromic material for smart window applications. Indeed, tailoring and understanding the thermochromic and surface properties at lower temperatures can enable room-temperature applications. The effect of W doping on the thermochromic, surface, and nanostructure properties of VO2 thin film was investigated in the present proof. W-doped VO2 thin films with different W contents were deposited by pulsed laser deposition (PLD) using V/W (+O2) and V2O5/W multilayers. Rapid thermal annealing at 400-450 °C under oxygen flow was performed to crystallize the as-deposited films. The thermochromic, surface chemistry, structural, and morphological properties of the thin films obtained were investigated. The results showed that the V5+ was more surface sensitive and W distribution was homogeneous in all samples. Moreover, the V2O5 acted as a W diffusion barrier during the annealing stage, whereas the V+O2 environment favored W surface diffusion. The phase transition temperature gradually decreased with increasing W content with a high efficiency of -26 °C per at. % W. For the highest doping concentration of 1.7 at. %, VO2 showed room-temperature transition (26 °C) with high luminous transmittance (62%), indicating great potential for optical applications.
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