Optical and electrical properties of vanadium nitride thin films

Vanadium nitride thin films have been deposited on to quartz substrates by dc magnetron sputtering at two different total pressures and a series of nitrogen partial pressures. The spectral transmittance of these films, in the region 350 to 1500 nm, is strongly dependent on the nitrogen partial pressure during sputtering and relatively insensitive to total pressure. The films became more transparent as the nitrogen partial pressure was decreased at a constant total pressure. The optical constants, refractive index and extinction coefficient, exhibited a similar dependence on the nitrogen partial pressure. The sheet resistivity of the films decreased with increasing nitrogen partial pressure. The values of resistivity indicate that the films are semiconducting rather than metallic