Tungsten-oxide films were deposited on glass substrates from a metal-oxide target by nonreactive radio-frequency sputtering. The authors have studied the effect that changing Ar gas pressure has on the electrical, optical, and chemical composition in the thin films. Resistivity of WO3 changed ten orders of magnitude with working gas pressure values from 20 to 80 mTorr. Thin films deposited at 20 mTorr of Ar sputtering pressure showed lower resistivity and optical transmittance. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) measurements revealed similar chemical composition for all samples irrespective of Ar pressure used. However, XPS analyses of the evolution of W 4f and O 1s peaks indicated a mixture of oxides dependent on the Ar pressure used during deposition. (C) 2010 American Vacuum Society. [DOI: 10.1116/1.3333423]