Revealing the high sensitivity in the metal toinsulator transition properties of the pulsed laser deposited VO2 thin films

Abstract Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is known as a typical 3d-orbital transition metal oxide exhibiting the metal-to-insulator-transition (MIT) property near room temperature. However, their electronic applications have been challenged by the quality and uniformity of VO2 thin films. In this work, we demonstrate the high sensitivity in the valence charge of vanadium and the MIT properties of the VO2 thin films to the deposition temperature. This observation indicates the necessity to eliminate the inhomogeneity in the temperature distribution of substrate during the vacuum-deposition process of VO2. In addition, a high thermoelectric power factor (PF, e.g., exceeding 1 μWcm−1K−2) was achieved in the metallic phase of the VO2 thin films and this value is comparable to typical organic or oxide thermoelectric materials. We believe this high PF enriches the potential functionality in thermoelectric energy conversions beyond the existing electronic applications of the current vacuum-grown VO2 thin films.