Abstract
This paper reports on a semiconducting resistor material based on vanadium sesquioxide (V2O3) with electrical resistivity and temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR) appropriate for microbolometer applications. In this work, V2O3-based semiconducting resistor material was synthesized and electrically characterized. The developed material was prepared by annealing, in O-2 and N-2 atmospheres, a cascaded multilayer structure composed of V2O3 (10 nm) and V (5 nm) room temperature sputter coated thin films. The developed 55 nm thin film microbolometer resistor material possessed high temperature sensitivity from 20 degrees C to 45 degrees C with a TCR of 3.68%/degrees C and room temperature resistivity of 0.57 Omega . cm for O-2 annealed samples and a TCR of -3.72%/degrees C and room temperature resistivity of 0.72 Omega . cm for N-2 annealed samples. The surface morphologies of the synthesized thin films were studied using atomic force microscopy showing no significant post-growth annealing effect on the smoothness of the samples surfaces.