Physical investigations on electron-beam evaporated vanadium pentoxide films

Thin films of vanadium pentoxide were prepared by the electron-beam evaporation technique onto Corning 7059 glass and silicon substrates maintained at Ts=553 K by varying the oxygen partial pressure in the range 0.1–20 mPa. These films have been characterized by studying their chemical state, structure, optical and electrical properties. V2O5 films of thickness 0.6 μm prepared at an oxygen partial pressure of 20 mPa exhibit an orthorhombic layered structure with an optical band gap of 2.3 eV. The room temperature electrical conductivity of the films is 2×10−5 S cm−1 with an activation energy of 0.42 eV in the temperature range 303–523 K.