<title>Electrochromism of W-oxide-based films: some theoretical and experimental results</title>

We survey some recent work related to electrochromic W-oxide-based thin films. The electronic structure of cubic (perovskite) WO3 and HWO3 was calculated from first principles. It was found, among other things, that hydroxide formation was energetically favored. Experimental studies were made on films prepared by reactive magnetron sputtering in Ar + O2 with and without CF4 addition and substrate bias. Structural studies by atomic force microscopy, x-ray diffraction, infrared reflectance spectroscopy, and Raman spectroscopy indicated that the electron bombardment associated with a positive substrate bias led to grain growth and partial crystallization while maintaining a high density of W e…