6–10 Jul 2026
University of the Western Cape
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
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Effects of Ag+ ion induced defects on structural, morphological and optical properties of thin VO2 films

7 Jul 2026, 11:40
20m
Lecture Hall GH1 (University of the Western Cape)

Lecture Hall GH1

University of the Western Cape

Oral Presentation Track A - Physics of Condensed Matter and Materials Physics of Condensed Matter and Materials

Speaker

Mr Matome Maloba (University of South Africa (UNISA))

Description

In this study, vanadium dioxide (VO2) films were deposited on silicon substrates by reactive pulsed laser deposition. Post deposition, the films were implanted with 80-keV Ag+-ions to fluences ranging from 0.1x1016 to 5.0x1016 ions/cm2. The effects of Ag+ ion-implantation on the structural, morphological, and optical properties of the films were investigated using various characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction analysis showed a left shift and broadening of the (011) peak with increasing fluence, indicating an expanded lattice and reduced crystallite size along the (011) direction in VO2. Raman spectroscopy revealed a leftward shift in the V-V and V-O Raman bands, suggesting that these bonds were weakened because of implantation. Morphological analysis showed a fluence-dependent decrease in grain size and surface roughness. A shift of V2p3/2 and O1s peaks towards lower binding energies observed using the X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy technique suggested that the electronic structure of VO2 was altered upon implantation. The obtained results in general showed that Ag+-implantation distorted the monoclinic structure of VO2 and enhanced infrared absorption in Ag+-implanted films through bandgap reduction, as confirmed by the optical measurements. These changes demonstrated that ion implantation could be used to tune the optical properties of the VO2 material towards being more suited to infrared sensing applications.

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Author

Mr Matome Maloba (University of South Africa (UNISA))

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