Giant nonvolatile resistive switching in V2O3/PMN-PT heterostructures

Invited

Abstract

Oxide heterostructures provide an exciting opportunity to engineer new artificial systems with unique properties that cannot be found in naturally occurring materials. Enabling the control of electronic properties of oxides that feature a metal-insulator transition (MIT) is a key requirement for developing a new class of electronics often referred to as “Mottronics” [1]. Although doping and radiation damage are effective tools to permanently change the MIT temperature in these materials, a simple method to switch the MIT properties in real-time is needed for practical applications. In this talk I will present the discovery of giant nonvolatile resistive switching (ΔR/R > 1000%) and strong modulation of the MIT temperature (ΔTc > 30 K) in a voltage-actuated V2O3/PMN-PT heterostructure. The control of the V2O3 electronic properties is achieved using the transfer of ferroelastic strain from the PMN-PT substrate into the epitaxially-grown V2O3 film. Strain can reversibly promote/hinder the structural phase transition in V2O3, thus advancing/suppressing the associated MIT. While oxide/ferroelectric hybrids had been studied in the past using other correlated materials, such as VO2 [2], Fe3O4 [3], LaNiO3 [4], NdNiO3 [5], etc., the reported nonvolatile resistive switching was rather modest: 1.5% < ΔR/R < 110%. More than an order of magnitude larger resistive switching in V2O3/PMN-PT could enable practical implementations of voltage-controlled Mott devices and provide a new platform for exploring fundamental electronic properties of V2O3.

[1] Ngai, J. et. al. Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 44, 1 (2014)
[2] Nan, T. et. al. Sci. Rep. 4, 5931 (2014)
[3] Liu, M. et. al. Sci. Rep. 3, 1876 (2013)
[4] Marshall, M. et. al. Phys. Rev. Appl. 2, 051001 (2014)
[5] Heo, S. et. al. Sci. Rep. 6, 22228 (2016)

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Presenters

  • Pavel Salev

    Royal Holloway, University of London, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

Authors

  • Pavel Salev

    Royal Holloway, University of London, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Javier del Valle

    Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California - San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Yoav Kalcheim

    University of California San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California - San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Ivan Schuller

    Physics, University of California, San Diego, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California - San Diego, Physics, UC San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Physics and Astronomy, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California San Diego, Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego