Domain nucleation across the metal-insulator transition of self-strained V2O3 films

Pofelski, Alexandre; Valencia, Sergio; Kalcheim, Yoav; Salev, Pavel; Rivera, Alberto; Huang, Chubin; Mawass, Mohamad Assaad; Kronast, Florian; Schuller, Ivan K.; Zhu, Yimei; del Valle, Javier

doi:10.1103/physrevmaterials.8.035003

Title: Domain nucleation across the metal-insulator transition of self-strained V 2 O 3 films

Journal Article · 26 March 2024 · Physical Review Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevmaterials.8.035003 · OSTI ID:2340730

^[1];

^[2]; Kalcheim, Yoav ^[3];

^[4]; Rivera, Alberto ^[5];

^[3];

^[6]; Kronast, Florian ^[2]; Schuller, Ivan K. ^[7];

^[1];

^[8]

Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), (Germany). German Research Centre for Materials and Energy
Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa (Israel)
Univ. of Denver, CO (United States)
Complutense Univ. of Madrid (Spain)
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin (HZB), (Germany). German Research Centre for Materials and Energy; Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society, Berlin (Germany)
Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
Univ. of Oviedo (Spain)

Bulk V₂O₃ features concomitant metal-insulator (MIT) and structural (SPT) phase transitions at T_C ~ 160 K. In thin films, where the substrate clamping can impose geometrical restrictions on the SPT, the epitaxial relation between the V₂O₃ film and substrate can have a profound effect on the MIT. Here we present a detailed characterization of domain nucleation and growth across the MIT in (001)-oriented V₂O₃ films grown on sapphire. By combining scanning electron transmission microscopy (STEM) and photoelectron emission microscopy (PEEM), we imaged the MIT with planar and vertical resolution. We observed that upon cooling, insulating domains nucleate at the top of the film, where strain is lowest, and expand downwards and laterally. This growth is arrested at a critical thickness of 50 nm from the substrate interface, leaving a persistent bottom metallic layer. As a result, the MIT cannot take place in the interior of films below this critical thickness. However, PEEM measurements revealed that insulating domains can still form on a very thin superficial layer at the top interface. Our results demonstrate the intricate spatial complexity of the MIT in clamped V₂O₃, especially the strain-induced large variations along the c axis. Finally, engineering the thickness-dependent MIT can provide an unconventional way to build out-of-plane geometry devices by using the persistent bottom metal layer as a native electrode.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Cite

Export

Save

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Quantum Materials for Energy Efficient Neuromorphic Computing (Q-MEEN-C)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); European Union (EU)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704; SC0019273

OSTI ID:: 2340730

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2473914

Report Number(s):: BNL--225554-2024-JAAM

Journal Information:: Physical Review Materials, Journal Name: Physical Review Materials Journal Issue: 3 Vol. 8; ISSN 2475-9953

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (48)

Nanotextured phase coexistence in the correlated insulator V2O3 McLeod, A. S.; van Heumen, E.; Ramirez, J. G. Nature Physics, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3882	journal	September 2016
In-situ X-ray diffraction study of alumina α-Al2O3 thermal behavior under dynamic vacuum and constant flow of nitrogen Chikh, Houria; SI Ahmed, Fariza; Afir, Arezki Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 654 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.09.131	journal	January 2016
Chaotic dynamics in nanoscale NbO2 Mott memristors for analogue computing Kumar, Suhas; Strachan, John Paul; Williams, R. Stanley Nature, Vol. 548, Issue 7667 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature23307	journal	August 2017
Does Vo 2 Host a Transient Monoclinic Metallic Phase? Vidas, Luciana; Schick, Daniel; Martínez, Elías Physical Review X, Vol. 10, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.031047	journal	August 2020
Direct Observation of Percolation in a Manganite Thin Film Zhang, L. Science, Vol. 298, Issue 5594 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1077346	journal	September 2002
Subnanosecond incubation times for electric-field-induced metallization of a correlated electron oxide Brockman, Justin S.; Gao, Li; Hughes, Brian Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 9, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2014.71	journal	April 2014
Metal-insulator transition in V ₂ O ₃ thin film caused by tip-induced strain Alyabyeva, N.; Sakai, J.; Bavencoffe, M. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5063712	journal	December 2018
Robust Coupling between Structural and Electronic Transitions in a Mott Material Kalcheim, Yoav; Butakov, Nikita; Vargas, Nicolas M. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 122, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.122.057601	journal	February 2019
Temperature-driven nucleation of ferromagnetic domains in FeRh thin films Baldasseroni, C.; Bordel, C.; Gray, A. X. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 100, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4730957	journal	June 2012
Mott Transition in VO2 Revealed by Infrared Spectroscopy and Nano-Imaging Qazilbash, M. M.; Brehm, M.; Chae, B. -G. Science, Vol. 318, Issue 5857 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1150124	journal	December 2007
Generation of Tunable Stochastic Sequences Using the Insulator–Metal Transition Valle, Javier del; Salev, Pavel; Gariglio, Stefano Nano Letters, Vol. 22, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c04404	journal	January 2022
Ultrafast disordering of vanadium dimers in photoexcited VO ₂ Wall, Simon; Yang, Shan; Vidas, Luciana Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6414 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aau3873	journal	November 2018
Striped nanoscale phase separation at the metal–insulator transition of heteroepitaxial nickelates Mattoni, G.; Zubko, P.; Maccherozzi, F. Nature Communications, Vol. 7, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13141	journal	November 2016
Anomalous compression and new high-pressure phases of vanadium sesquioxide, V ₂ O ₃ Ovsyannikov, Sergey V.; Trots, Dmytro M.; Kurnosov, Alexander V. Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 25, Issue 38 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/25/38/385401	journal	August 2013
Biological plausibility and stochasticity in scalable VO2 active memristor neurons Yi, Wei; Tsang, Kenneth K.; Lam, Stephen K. Nature Communications, Vol. 9, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07052-w	journal	November 2018
Programmable Mechanical Resonances in MEMS by Localized Joule Heating of Phase Change Materials Manca, Nicola; Pellegrino, Luca; Kanki, Teruo Advanced Materials, Vol. 25, Issue 44 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.201302087	journal	August 2013
Imaging the itinerant-to-localized transmutation of electrons across the metal-to-insulator transition in V ₂ O ₃ Thees, Maximilian; Lee, Min-Han; Bouwmeester, Rosa Luca Science Advances, Vol. 7, Issue 45 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abj1164	journal	November 2021
Metal-insulator transitions Imada, Masatoshi; Fujimori, Atsushi; Tokura, Yoshinori Reviews of Modern Physics, Vol. 70, Issue 4, p. 1039-1263 https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.70.1039	journal	October 1998
Early-stage dynamics of metallic droplets embedded in the nanotextured Mott insulating phase of V 2 O 3 Ronchi, A.; Homm, P.; Menghini, M. Physical Review B, Vol. 100, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.075111	journal	August 2019
Isostructural metal-insulator transition in VO ₂ Lee, D.; Chung, B.; Shi, Y. Science, Vol. 362, Issue 6418 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aam9189	journal	November 2018
Temperature-adaptive radiative coating for all-season household thermal regulation Tang, Kechao; Dong, Kaichen; Li, Jiachen Science, Vol. 374, Issue 6574 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abf7136	journal	December 2021
Imaging and Harnessing Percolation at the Metal–Insulator Transition of NdNiO ₃ Nanogaps Lee, Jin Hong; Trier, Felix; Cornelissen, Tom Nano Letters, Vol. 19, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.9b02815	journal	October 2019
Novel High-Pressure Monoclinic Metallic Phase of V 2 O 3 Ding, Yang; Chen, Cheng-Chien; Zeng, Qiaoshi Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.056401	journal	February 2014
Disentangling Structural and Electronic Properties in V₂O₃ Thin Films: A Genuine Nonsymmetry Breaking Mott Transition Mazzola, Federico; Chaluvadi, Sandeep Kumar; Polewczyk, Vincent Nano Letters, Vol. 22, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.2c02288	journal	July 2022
Metal-Insulator Transitions in Pure and Doped V 2 O 3 McWhan, D. B.; Menth, A.; Remeika, J. P. Physical Review B, Vol. 7, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.7.1920	journal	March 1973
Light-Assisted Resistance Collapse in a V2O3 -Based Mott-Insulator Device Ronchi, A.; Franceschini, P.; Homm, P. Physical Review Applied, Vol. 15, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.15.044023	journal	April 2021
A scalable neuristor built with Mott memristors Pickett, Matthew D.; Medeiros-Ribeiro, Gilberto; Williams, R. Stanley Nature Materials, Vol. 12, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3510	journal	December 2012
Structural Manipulation of Phase Transitions by Self‐Induced Strain in Geometrically Confined Thin Films Kalcheim, Yoav; Adda, Coline; Salev, Pavel Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 49 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202005939	journal	September 2020
Dynamical Singlets and Correlation-Assisted Peierls Transition in V O 2 Biermann, S.; Poteryaev, A.; Lichtenstein, A. I. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 94, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.026404	journal	January 2005
Positive and Negative Pressure Regimes in Anisotropically Strained V₂O₃ Films Barazani, Eti; Das, Dip; Huang, Chubin Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 33, Issue 31 https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.202211801	journal	May 2023
Direct Observation of Decoupled Structural and Electronic Transitions and an Ambient Pressure Monocliniclike Metallic Phase of VO 2 Laverock, J.; Kittiwatanakul, S.; Zakharov, A. A. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 113, Issue 21 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.216402	journal	November 2014
Reconfigurable perovskite nickelate electronics for artificial intelligence Zhang, Hai-Tian; Park, Tae Joon; Islam, A. N. M. Nafiul Science, Vol. 375, Issue 6580 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7943	journal	February 2022
Imaging of Electrothermal Filament Formation in a Mott Insulator Lange, Matthias; Guénon, Stefan; Kalcheim, Yoav Physical Review Applied, Vol. 16, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.16.054027	journal	November 2021
Extended Mapping and Exploration of the Vanadium Dioxide Stress-Temperature Phase Diagram Cao, J.; Gu, Y.; Fan, W. Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl101457k	journal	July 2010
Anisotropic Temperature-Driven Strain Dynamics in VO₂ Solid-State Microactuators Manca, Nicola; Kanki, Teruo; Endo, Fumiya ACS Applied Electronic Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsaelm.0c00776	journal	December 2020
A microscopic view on the Mott transition in chromium-doped V2O3 Lupi, S.; Baldassarre, L.; Mansart, B. Nature Communications, Vol. 1, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1109	journal	November 2010
Metal-Insulator Transition in ( V 1 − x Cr x ) 2 O 3 McWhan, D. B.; Remeika, J. P. Physical Review B, Vol. 2, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.2.3734	journal	November 1970
Oxides Which Show a Metal-to-Insulator Transition at the Neel Temperature Morin, F. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.3.34	journal	July 1959
Nanoscale self-organization and metastable non-thermal metallicity in Mott insulators Ronchi, Andrea; Franceschini, Paolo; De Poli, Andrea Nature Communications, Vol. 13, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-31298-0	journal	June 2022
Giant nonvolatile resistive switching in a Mott oxide and ferroelectric hybrid Salev, Pavel; del Valle, Javier; Kalcheim, Yoav Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 116, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1822138116	journal	April 2019
Rare-earth nickelates R NiO ₃ : thin films and heterostructures Catalano, S.; Gibert, M.; Fowlie, J. Reports on Progress in Physics, Vol. 81, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/aaa37a	journal	February 2018
VO₂nanophotonics Cueff, Sébastien; John, Jimmy; Zhang, Zhen APL Photonics, Vol. 5, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0028093	journal	November 2020
A photoinduced metal-like phase of monoclinic VO ₂ revealed by ultrafast electron diffraction Morrison, Vance R.; Chatelain, Robert. P.; Tiwari, Kunal L. Science, Vol. 346, Issue 6208 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1253779	journal	October 2014
Planar Nanoactuators Based on VO₂ Phase Transition Manca, Nicola; Kanki, Teruo; Endo, Fumiya Nano Letters, Vol. 20, Issue 10 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02638	journal	August 2020
Spin and orbital occupation and phase transitions in V 2 O 3 Park, J. -H.; Tjeng, L. H.; Tanaka, A. Physical Review B, Vol. 61, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.61.11506	journal	May 2000
Four-Dimensional Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (4D-STEM): From Scanning Nanodiffraction to Ptychography and Beyond Ophus, Colin Microscopy and Microanalysis, Vol. 25, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1017/S1431927619000497	journal	May 2019
Spatiotemporal characterization of the field-induced insulator-to-metal transition del Valle, Javier; Vargas, Nicolas M.; Rocco, Rodolfo Science, Vol. 373, Issue 6557 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd9088	journal	August 2021
Interplay between Ferroelastic and Metal−Insulator Phase Transitions in Strained Quasi-Two-Dimensional VO₂ Nanoplatelets Tselev, Alexander; Strelcov, Evgheni; Luk’yanchuk, Igor A. Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl102049b	journal	June 2010

Similar Records

Metal-insulator transition in V2O3 with intrinsic defects

Journal Article · 2021 · Physical Review. B · OSTI ID:1852984

Tran, Richard; Li, Xiang-Guo; Ong, Shyue Ping; +2 more

Superconducting phase of TixOy thin films grown by molecular beam epitaxy

Journal Article · 2022 · Physical Review Materials · OSTI ID:1908136

Ozbek, Yasemin; Brooks, Cooper; Zhang, Xuanyi; +4 more

Persistent Room-Temperature Photodarkening in Cu-Doped β-Ga2O3

Journal Article · 2022 · Physical Review Letters · OSTI ID:1867090

Jesenovec, J.; Pansegrau, C.; McCluskey, M. D.; +4 more

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Title: Domain nucleation across the metal-insulator transition of self-strained V 2 O 3 films

Citation Formats

References (48)

Similar Records

Related Subjects