An Investigation of Titanium‐Vanadium Nitride Phase Space, Conducted Using Combinatorial Atmospheric Pressure CVD

Abstract

The technique of combinatorial atmospheric pressure (AP)CVD, a recent addition to the growing number of combinatorial materials methods, is used to form twelve members of the Ti x V 1-x N alloy series with 0.29 < x < 0.94. This series of compounds has a rock-salt structure with TiN and VN as the end members. The twelve phases, which have potential use as heat mirror coatings, are all synthesized in a single experiment. The structure and properties of the materials are investigated using powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). The optical properties are considered using visible-IR spectroscopy (IRS), which allows the suitability of the films as solar control coatings to be investigated and optimized as a function of composition.

The combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) of a gradating N-doped mixed phase titania thin film

“…Combinatorial CVD has been implemented to optimise F doping in SnO 2 films for solar cell enhancement, 52 from Zr-Si/ Hf-Si dioxide films for finding high k dielectric materials, 53 produce mixed Ti-V nitride films for use as heat mirrors, 54 distinguish the detriment of oxygen to conductivity and resistance in vanadium oxynitrides 39 and even create new phases. 40 Although it was found (vide infra) that substitutional N doping of a titania thin-film was detrimental to the photocatalysis to UVA, recent studies, utilising cAPCVD, have shown that doping anatase purely in interstitial sites ($1% N : Ti) leads to a profound enhancement as visible light photocatalysts.…”

Combining single source chemical vapour deposition precursors to explore the phase space of titanium oxynitride thin films

“…Chemical vapour deposition (CVD) is a widely used and scalable technique for thin film growth, [4][5][6][7] and can be used to deposit films of oxides, sulfides, nitrides and indeed mixed anion materials. 4,[8][9][10] However, compared to simple binary phases, mixed anion materials present a significantly greater challenge as their ternary phase diagrams can contain multiple stable structural phases with different anion ratios. It is essential that the deposition route can allow for selective formation of a specific, desired composition.…”

Combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) of niobium doped anatase; effect of niobium on the conductivity and photocatalytic activity

“…[30][31][32][33][34] Films with significant variations in thickness, phase and composition have been achieved by a combinatorial atmospheric pressure chemical vapour deposition (cAPCVD) synthesis. [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42] cAPCVD is a relatively new technique that has been used to create a variety of mixed phase and composition thin-film systems on a single substrate. Recent investigations showed how cAPCVD thin-films, in conjunction with mapping characterisation methods, were applied to rapidly determine physicalfunctional properties; such as the effect of increased oxygen content within vanadium oxynitrides on film electrical conductivity and reflectance properties 35 as well as the decrease in photocatalytic activity when substitutionally doping oxygen sites in anatase with nitrogen 37 in addition to other examples.…”