PLASMA ENHANCED CHEMICAL VAPOR DEPOSITION (PECVD) METHOD OF FORMING VANADIUM OXIDE FILMS AND VANADIUM OXIDE THIN-FILMS PREPARED THEREBY

摘要

A method is disclosed of forming a vanadium oxide film (22) on a substrate (20) utilizing plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. The method includes positioning a substrate (20) within a plasma reaction chamber (12) and then forming a precursor gas comprised of a vanadium-containing chloride gas in an inert carrier gas. This precursor gas is then mixed with selected amounts of hydrogen and oxygen and directed into the reaction chamber (12). The amounts of precursor gas, oxygen and hydrogen are selected to optimize the final properties of the vanadium oxide film (22). An rf plasma (14) is generated within the reaction chamber (12) to chemically react the precursor gas with the hydrogen and the oxygen to cause deposition of a vanadium oxide film (22) on the substrate (20) while the chamber deposition pressure is maintained at about one torr or less. Finally, the byproduct gases are removed from the plasma reaction chamber (12).