Isostructural metal-insulator transition in VO 2
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
- School of Advanced Materials Science and Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon 16419, Korea.
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
- Department of Materials Modeling and Characterization, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon 642-831, Korea.
- Department of Physics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI 53706, USA.
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA., School of Physical Sciences, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland.
- Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
- Department of Physics and Astronomy and Nebraska Center for Materials and Nanoscience, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588, USA.
- Department of Physics, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725, USA.
The metal-insulator transition in correlated materials is usually coupled to a symmetry-lowering structural phase transition. This coupling not only complicates the understanding of the basic mechanism of this phenomenon but also limits the speed and endurance of prospective electronic devices. We demonstrate an isostructural, purely electronically driven metal-insulator transition in epitaxial heterostructures of an archetypal correlated material, vanadium dioxide. A combination of thin-film synthesis, structural and electrical characterizations, and theoretical modeling reveals that an interface interaction suppresses the electronic correlations without changing the crystal structure in this otherwise correlated insulator. This interaction stabilizes a nonequilibrium metallic phase and leads to an isostructural metal-insulator transition. This discovery will provide insights into phase transitions of correlated materials and may aid the design of device functionalities.
- Research Organization:
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division; US Department of the Navy, Office of Naval Research (ONR); National Science Foundation (NSF)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-06ER46327; AC02-06CH11357
- OSTI ID:
- 1483924
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1505612
- Journal Information:
- Science, Journal Name: Science Vol. 362 Journal Issue: 6418; ISSN 0036-8075
- Publisher:
- American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Web of Science
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