The microstructures and electrical properties of Y-doped amorphous vanadium oxide thin films

Abstract One of promising approaches for further improving the sensitivity of microbolometer arrays with greatly-reduced pixel size is using the thermal-sensitive materials with higher performance. In this paper, Y-doped vanadium oxide (VO x ) thin films prepared by a reactively sputtering process exhibit enhanced performance for the microbolometer application compared with frequently-applied VO x thin films. Both undoped and Y-doped VO x thin films are amorphous due to the relatively low deposition temperature. Y-doped VO x thin films exhibit smoother surface morphology than VO x due to the restrained expansion of particles during depositions. Y-doping increases the temperature coefficient of resistivity by over 20% for the doping level of 1.30 at%. The change rate of resistivity, after aging for 72 h, of thin films was reduced from about 15% for undoped VO x to 2% due to the introduction of Y. Moreover, Y-doped VO x thin films have a low 1/f noise level as VO x ones. Y-doping provides an attractive approach for preparing VO x thermal-sensitive materials with enhanced performance for microbolometers.