Preparation of VO2/graphene/SiC film by water vapor oxidation

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has attracted extensive attention due to the specific metal-insulator phase transition as well as the wide device applications. The practical performance of VO2-based device strongly depends on the quality of VO2, since the higher quality of VO2 film always shows much more pronounced phase transition behavior. Thus, the preparation of high quality VO2 film is essential and highly desirable. In this work, we have prepared high-quality VO2 film on SiC substrate by water vapor oxidation with graphene (G) buffer layer, which showed excellent phase transformation properties. Compared with the VO2/SiC sample without G buffer layer, the VO2/G/SiC films show the resistance changes up to four-orders of magnitude across the phase transition boundary and superior optoelectronic properties, which indicates the significant role of G layer in the film growth process. The current study not only provides an economical and feasible method for VO2/G/SiC thin film preparation with high quality, but also supply some clues for the application of G-based VO2 devices in the future.