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Title: Nanoscale Control of Oxygen Defects and Metal–Insulator Transition in Epitaxial Vanadium Dioxides

Journal Article · · ACS Nano
ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1];  [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
  2. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Lemont, IL (United States)

Strongly correlated vanadium dioxide (VO2) is one of the most promising materials that exhibits a temperature-driven, metal insulator transition (MIT) near room temperature. The ability to manipulate the MIT at nanoscale offers both insight into understanding the energetics of phase transition and a promising potential for nanoelectronic devices. In this work, we study nanoscale electrochemical modifications of the MIT in epitaxial VO2 thin films using a combined approach with scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and theoretical calculations. We find that applying electric voltages of different polarity through an SPM tip locally changes the contact potential difference and conductivity on the surface of VO2 by modulating the oxygen stoichiometry. We observed nearly 2 orders of magnitude change in resistance between positive and negative biased-tip written areas of the film, demonstrating the electric field modulated MIT behavior at the nanoscale. Density functional theory calculations, benchmarked against more accurate many-body quantum Monte Carlo calculations, provide information on the formation energetics of oxygen defects that can be further manipulated by strain. This study highlights the crucial role of oxygen vacancies in controlling the MIT in epitaxial VO2 thin films, useful for developing advanced electronic and iontronic devices.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725; AC02-06CH11357
OSTI ID:
1462904
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1466361
Journal Information:
ACS Nano, Vol. 12, Issue 7; ISSN 1936-0851
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 34 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (10)

On‐Demand Nanoscale Manipulations of Correlated Oxide Phases journal September 2019
Simultaneous scanning near-field optical and X-ray diffraction microscopy for correlative nanoscale structure–property characterization journal August 2019
Thickness effects on the epitaxial strain states and phase transformations in (001)-VO 2 /TiO 2 thin films journal February 2019
Nonstoichiometric Oxygen‐Dependent Microstructures and Phase Transitions in Post‐Annealed Vanadium Dioxides journal April 2019
A solution processed metal–oxo cluster for rewritable resistive memory devices journal January 2019
Self‐Assembled Room Temperature Multiferroic BiFeO 3 ‐LiFe 5 O 8 Nanocomposites journal October 2019
Competing phases in epitaxial vanadium dioxide at nanoscale journal August 2019
Piezoelectric control of resistance switching in VO 2 /Pb(Zr 0.52 Ti 0.48 )O 3 heterostructure journal February 2019
Non-conventional mechanism of ferroelectric fatigue via cation migration journal July 2019
Competing Phases in Epitaxial Vanadium Dioxide at Nanoscale preprint January 2019