Phase-transition properties of VO2 thin films changed by high flux electron beam radiation

VO2 is a typical material able to make a phase-transition by heating. At approximately Tc=68 °C, VO2 can be suddenly transferred from the phase of anatase to rutile, accompanying the rapid change of resistance and transmissivity. It is quite interesting to study this material. In this work, VO2 thin films have been prepared by the method of vacuum evaporation combined with vacuum deoxidation and irradiated by electron beam with fluence of 6.3×1016 cm2 and energy of 1.7 MeV, and then have been annealed at different temperature after irradiation. Both phase transition properties and crystalline structures are characterized by X-ray diffraction, UV–VIS transmittance and resistance analysis. The results show that the annealing process after electron irradiation modifies the phase-transition temperature and the width of phase-transition hysteresis.