AbstractSingle-phase vanadium-dioxide (VO₂) thin films have been deposited on various substrates by means of a reactive pulsed-laser-deposition technique. While the preferred orientation is (011) monoclinic for the films deposited on silicon substrates and (020) monoclinic for those deposited on sapphire substrates, the thermochromic properties of the VO₂ layers is found to be fairly independent of the substrate type. It is further shown that W doping and Ti-W co-doping significantly improve the thermochromic properties. Following growth, VO₂ layers were used in the context of the development of micro-switching devices. For this purpose, patterning of the VO₂ layers was investigated using a high-density argon magnetoplasma. Highly anisotropic features have been produced with a high etch rate and a good selectivity over resist. The etch rate for VO₂/Al₂O₃ samples is found to be higher than that for VO₂/Si samples, which is due to the higher number of surface dangling bonds in the (020) phase as compared to the (011) phase.