Microstructure and Oxidation Behavior of Metal V Films Deposited by Magnetron Sputtering

• Main Authors: Song Zhang, Tingting Wang, Ziyu Zhang, Jun Li, Rong Tu, Qiang Shen, Chuanbin Wang, Guoqiang Luo, Lianmeng Zhang
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-01-01
• Series: Materials
• Subjects: Vanadium films; magnetron sputtering; substrate temperature (<i>T</i>_s); target–substrate distance (<i>D</i>_t–s); microstructure; oxidation behavior
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/12/3/425

Direct-current magnetron sputtering (DCMS) was applied to prepare vanadium (V) films on Si substrate. The influence of substrate temperature (<i>T</i>_s) and target&#8315;substrate distance (<i>D</i>_t&#8315;s) on phase structure and surface morphology of V films were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The results show that the crystallinity of the V films increases with increasing <i>T</i>_s and decreasing <i>D</i>_t&#8315;s. The film deposited at <i>T</i>_s = 400 &#176;C and <i>D</i>_t&#8315;s = 60 mm exhibits the best crystallinity and &lt;111&gt; preferred orientation with a regular tetrahedral surface morphology. Oxidation behavior of the V thin films has also been studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS).