Growth, structure and properties of sputtered niobium oxide thin films

Niobium oxide (NbOx) films were deposited by pulsed dc magnetron sputtering at different total gas pressures and oxygen flow rates. Various film properties were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, variable angle spectroscopic ellipsometry and four point probe. It was found that oxygen flow rates required for preparing NbO, NbO2 and Nb2O5 at a constant total pressure of 0.93 Pa were approximately 2, 4 and > 6 sccm, respectively. The results showed that the film properties, specifically composition can be significantly changed by the total gas pressure and the oxygen flow rate.