Vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films have been deposited reproducibly by a new direct sputter process without post-annealing on r-cut (1 (1) over bar 02 sapphire substrates. X-ray diffraction shows that the films are nearly perfectly oriented and only (k00) planes parallel to the surface of the substrate are obtained. The produced thin films show a semiconductor to metal transition at 63 degrees C with a hysteresis as low as 2 K accompanied with a change in the electrical resistivity of nearly 10(5). Fur examination of the surface layer of the VO2, metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS)-elements have been produced where a photo-resist was used as an insulating layer. Capacitance-voltage (C-V) curves have been obtained with a symmetrical bell-shaped behavior.