Films of VO2, prepared by pulsed-laser ablation, were investigated by using high-resolution X-ray diffraction, X-ray pole-figure, Rutherford back-scattering/channelling and electrical methods. The results showed that films which were deposited onto (00▪1) sapphire substrates grew with well-determined orientations in the plane: [100]VO2||[11▪0]sapphire, and out of the plane: (010)VO2||(00▪1)sapphire. The aligned/random ratio of the back-scattered yield of the spectra could be as low as 5%, and the electrical resistivity changed by a factor of 6 x 104 during the phase transformation; with a hysteresis loop width of 0.9C. This implied that both the structure and the properties of the film were close to those of bulk monocrystalline VO2. The (010)-oriented film preferred to form a twinned structure with 120º domain walls.

Single-Crystalline Epitaxy and Twinned Structure of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Film on (0001) Sapphire. Z.P.Wu, S.Yamamoto, A.Miyashita, Z.J.Zhang, K.Narumi, H.Naramoto: Journal of Physics - Condensed Matter, 1998, 10[48], L765-71