Abstract
•VxOy multilayer thin film structure was sputtered for microbolometer applications.•Synthesized VxOy thin films were annealed at a temperature of 300°C.•Best achieved TCR was found to be −2.57%/K for 40min annealed samples.•Thermal conductivity of VxOy was measured using Photo-thermal deflection technique.•Thermal conductivity of VxOy films ranged from 2W/mK to 5.8W/mK.
In this paper, we synthesize and characterize a thin film thermometer structure for infrared microbolometers. The structure is composed of alternating multilayers of Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5), 25nm, and Vanadium (V), 5nm, thin films deposited by rf magnetron and dc magnetron sputtering respectively and annealed for 20, 30 and 40min at 300°C in Nitrogen (N2) atmosphere. The best achieved temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) was found to be −2.57%/K for 40min annealed samples. Moreover, we apply, for the first time, the photo-thermal deflection (PTD) technique for measuring the thermal conductivity of the synthesized thin films. The thermal conductivity of the developed thin films reveals an increase in thermal conductivity from 2W/mK to 5.8W/mK for as grown and 40min annealed samples respectively.