An official website of the United States government
Abstract Phase change materials, which show different electrical characteristics across the phase transitions, have attracted considerable research attention for their potential electronic device applications. Materials with metal‐to‐insulator or charge density wave (CDW) transitions such as VO2and 1T‐TaS2have demonstrated voltage oscillations due to their robust bi‐state resistive switching behavior with some basic neuronal characteristics. BaTiS3is a small bandgap ternary chalcogenide that has recently reported the emergence of CDW order below 245 K. Here, the discovery of DC voltage / current‐induced reversible threshold switching in BaTiS3devices between a CDW phase and a room temperature semiconducting phase is reported. The resistive switching behavior is consistent with a Joule heating scheme and sustained voltage oscillations with a frequency of up to 1 kHz are demonstrated by leveraging the CDW phase transition and the associated negative differential resistance. Strategies of reducing channel sizes and improving thermal management may further improve the device's performance. The findings establish BaTiS3as a promising CDW material for future electronic device applications, especially for energy‐efficient neuromorphic computing.
more »
« less
Probing Relaxation Dynamics and Stepped Domain Switching in Boron‐Alloyed VO 2
Abstract The characteristic metal–insulator phase transition (MIT) in vanadium dioxide results in nonlinear electrical transport behavior, allowing VO2devices to imitate the complex functions of neurological behavior. Chemical doping is an established method for varying the properties of the MIT, and interstitial dopant boron has been shown to generate a unique dynamic relaxation effect in individual B‐VO2particles. This paper describes the first demonstration of an electrically stimulated B‐VO2proto‐device which manifests a time‐dependent critical transformation temperature and switching voltage derived from the coupling of dopant diffusion dynamics and the metal–insulator transition of VO2. During quasi‐steady current‐driven transitions, the electrical responses of B‐VO2proto‐devices show a step‐by‐step progression through the phase transformation, evidencing domain transformations within individual particles. The dynamic relaxation effect is shown to increase the critical switching voltage by up to 41% (ΔVcrit =0.13 V) and also to increase the resistivity of the M1 phase of B‐VO2by 14%, imbuing a memristive response derived from intrinsic material properties. These observations demonstrate the dynamic relaxation effect in B‐VO2proto‐devices whose electrical transport responses can be adjusted by electronic phase transitions triggered by temperature but also by time as a result of intrinsic dynamics of interstitial dopants.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1809866
- PAR ID:
- 10363724
- Publisher / Repository:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Advanced Electronic Materials
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 3
- ISSN:
- 2199-160X
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Vanadium dioxide (VO2) is a well‐studied Mott‐insulator because of the very abrupt physical property switching during its semiconductor‐to‐metal transition (SMT) around 341 K (68 °C). In this work, through novel oxide‐metal nanocomposite designs (i.e., Au:VO2and Pt:VO2), a very broad range of SMT temperature tuning from≈323.5 to≈366.7 K has been achieved by varying the metallic secondary phase in the nanocomposites (i.e., Au:VO2and Pt:VO2thin films, respectively). More surprisingly, the SMTTccan be further lowered to≈301.8 K (near room temperature) by reducing the Au particle size from 11.7 to 1.7 nm. All the VO2nanocomposite thin films maintain superior phase transition performance, i.e., large transition amplitude, very sharp transition, and narrow width of thermal hysteresis. Correspondingly, a twofold variation of the complex dielectric function has been demonstrated in these metal‐VO2nanocomposites. The wide range physical property tuning is attributed to the band structure reconstruction at the metal‐VO2phase boundaries. This demonstration paved a novel approach for tuning the phase transition property of Mott‐insulating materials to near room temperature transition, which is important for sensors, electrical switches, smart windows, and actuators.more » « less
-
Abstract Detailed electrical and photoemission studies were carried out to probe the chemical nature of the insulating ground state of VO2, whose properties have been an issue for accurate prediction by common theoretical probes. The effects of a systematic modulation of oxygen over-stoichiometry of VO2from 1.86 to 2.44 on the band structure and insulator–metal transitions are presented for the first time. Results offer a different perspective on the temperature- and doping-induced IMT process. They suggest that charge fluctuation in the metallic phase of intrinsic VO2results in the formation of e−and h+pairs that lead to delocalized polaronic V3+and V5+cation states. The metal-to-insulator transition is linked to the cooperative effects of changes in the V–O bond length, localization of V3+electrons at V5+sites, which results in the formation of V4+–V4+dimers, and removal of$$\pi^{*}$$ screening electrons. It is shown that the nature of phase transitions is linked to the lattice V3+/V5+concentrations of stoichiometric VO2and that electronic transitions are regulated by the interplay between charge fluctuation, charge redistribution, and structural transition.more » « less
-
Abstract Oxides that exhibit an insulator–metal transition can be used to fabricate energy‐efficient relaxation oscillators for use in hardware‐based neural networks but there are very few oxides with transition temperatures above room temperature. Here the structural, electrical, and thermal properties of V3O5thin films and their application as the functional oxide in metal/oxide/metal relaxation oscillators are reported. The V3O5devices show electroforming‐free volatile threshold switching and negative differential resistance (NDR) with stable (<3% variation) cycle‐to‐cycle operation. The physical mechanisms underpinning these characteristics are investigated using a combination of electrical measurements, in situ thermal imaging, and device modeling. This shows that conduction is confined to a narrow filamentary path due to self‐confinement of the current distribution and that the NDR response is initiated at temperatures well below the insulator–metal transition temperature where it is dominated by the temperature‐dependent conductivity of the insulating phase. Finally, the dynamics of individual and coupled V3O5‐based relaxation oscillators is reported, showing that capacitively coupled devices exhibit rich non‐linear dynamics, including frequency and phase synchronization. These results establish V3O5as a new functional material for volatile threshold switching and advance the development of robust solid‐state neurons for neuromorphic computing.more » « less
-
Abstract Straining the vanadium dimers along the rutilec‐axis can be used to tune the metal‐to‐insulator transition (MIT) of VO2but has thus far been limited to TiO2substrates. In this work VO2/MgF2epitaxial films are grown via molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to strain engineer the transition temperature (TMIT). First, growth parameters are optimized by varying the synthesis temperature of the MgF2(001) substrate (TS) using a combination of X‐ray diffraction techniques, temperature dependent transport, and soft X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. It is determined thatTSvalues greater than 350 °C induce Mg and F interdiffusion and ultimately the relaxation of the VO2layer. Using the optimized growth temperature, VO2/MgF2(101) and (110) films are then synthesized. The three film orientations display MITs with transition temperatures in the range of 15–60 °C through precise strain engineering.more » « less
