Luminous Transmittance and Phase Transition Temperature of VO 2 :Ce Thin Films Prepared by DC Reactive Magnetron Sputtering

Vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) and cerium-doped vanadium dioxide (VO 2 :Ce) thin films were prepared by DC reactive magnetron sputtering from vanadium metallic target and V-Ce alloy targets. Luminous transmittance and phase transition temperatures of the films were studied. The Shimadzu SOLIDSPEC-3700 DUV-VIS-NIR spectrophotometer was used to measure the transmittance and reflectance of the films. The phase transition temperature (τ c ) of the films was obtained from both the transmittance and sheet resistance against temperature curves. A change in sheet resistance of 2 to 3 orders of magnitude was observed for both undoped and Ce-doped VO 2 films. Comparison between undoped and doped VO 2 films revealed that cerium inclusion altered both the visible and infrared transmittance of VO 2 thin films. Luminous transmittance was slightly enhanced while τ c was slightly depressed by cerium inclusion in VO 2 . A two-step increase in transmittance observed in the cooling loop in pure VO 2 was found to be suppressed by cerium inclusion. Keywords: vanadium dioxide, luminous transmittance, phase transition temperature