Structural characterization of V2O5–TiO2 thin films deposited by RF sputtering from a titanium target with vanadium insets

Structural and compositional analyses of different series of Ti–V–O thin films synthesized by RF-magnetron sputtering are presented. Vanadium content is changed by means of vanadium insets placed in the titanium target. By micro-X-ray fluorescence (microXRF), the V/Ti atomic ratio of the samples treated at 300 °C was found to be 0.18, 0.25 and 0.82. At low temperature, anatase is the main phase for samples with lower vanadium content. The increase of vanadium content comes along with an increase of the amorphous phase. Rutile phases dominate at high temperatures. V2O5 is detected after treatment at 600 °C, then vanishes. MicroXRF and miniSIMS analyses show that the vanadium content decreases as the temperature increases. By microXRF the V/Ti atomic ratio after the thermal treatment at 800 °C was found to be about 0.06, 0.11 and 0.22. tance data are explained on the basis of these observations.