Thermochromism of rapid thermal annealed VO2 and Sn-doped VO2 thin films

Stoichiometric VO2 thin films were fabricated on glass substrates by reactive electron-beam evaporation under controlled oxygen pressures. Rapid thermal annealing (RTA) was examined as a promising annealing method to crystallize the as-deposited thin film. An RTA temperature of 400 degrees C and time of 20-30 s were found to be optimum annealing conditions to crystallize the thin films, as confirmed by X-ray diffraction analysis and examining the him thermochromism. VO2 thin films were doped with 1-6 at.% Sn to fabricate V1-xSnxO2 thin films. The Sn-doped VO2 thin films exhibited distinct thermochromism as the undoped thin films, however, they showed significantly higher transition temperatures than undoped VO2 thin films.