Effect of ultraviolet irradiation on electrical resistance and phase transition characteristics of thin film vanadium oxide

Metal-insulator transitions in strongly correlated oxides such as vanadium oxide (VO2) are of great scientific and technological interest. Due to the presence of multiple oxidation states, synthesis of high-quality VO2 films on substrates with the desired phase transition characteristics such as large jumps in phase transition resistance is a challenge. We show that the resistance ratio across the metal-insulator transition as well as the resistance of thin film VO2 can be modulated at relatively low temperatures by the use of ultraviolet irradiation. The enhanced oxygen incorporation due to creation of excited oxygen species enables controllably tunable stoichiometry.

[1]  D. N. Basov,et al.  Correlated metallic state of vanadium dioxide , 2006 .

[2]  Armando Rúa,et al.  Insulator-to-metal phase transition and recovery processes in V O 2 thin films after femtosecond laser excitation , 2007 .

[3]  S. Ramanathan,et al.  A Theoretical Approach to Investigate Low-Temperature Nanoscale Oxidation of Metals under UV Radiation , 2007 .

[4]  C. H. Griffiths,et al.  Influence of stoichiometry on the metal‐semiconductor transition in vanadium dioxide , 1974 .

[5]  Shriram Ramanathan,et al.  Structure-functional property relationships in rf-sputtered vanadium dioxide thin films , 2007 .

[6]  R. Czerw,et al.  Nonlinear optical transmission in VOx nanotubes and VOx nanotube composites , 2002 .

[7]  Hidekazu Tanaka,et al.  Influence of ambient atmosphere on metal-insulator transition of strained vanadium dioxide ultrathin films , 2006 .

[8]  Eiji Kusano,et al.  Effects of microstructure and nonstoichiometry on electrical properties of vanadium dioxide films , 1989 .

[9]  D. Muller,et al.  Growth and characterization of ultrathin zirconia dielectrics grown by ultraviolet ozone oxidation , 2001 .

[10]  Roman V. Kruzelecky,et al.  Micro-optical switch device based on semiconductor-to-metallic phase transition characteristics of W-doped VO2 smart coatings , 2007 .

[11]  F. J. Morin,et al.  Oxides Which Show a Metal-to-Insulator Transition at the Neel Temperature , 1959 .

[12]  G. Lucovsky,et al.  Formation of device quality Si/SiO2 interfaces at low substrate temperatures by remote plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition of SiO2 , 1990 .

[13]  J. Macchesney,et al.  Preparation and Properties of Vanadium Dioxide Films , 1968 .

[14]  J. Thornton,et al.  Deposition of vanadium oxide films by direct‐current magnetron reactive sputtering , 1988 .

[15]  John B. Goodenough,et al.  The two components of the crystallographic transition in VO2 , 1971 .

[16]  D. Muller,et al.  Effect of oxygen stoichiometry on the electrical properties of zirconia gate dielectrics , 2001 .

[17]  C. Takoudis,et al.  Rapid thermal oxidation of silicon in ozone , 2000 .

[18]  C. H. Griffiths,et al.  Transport and Structural Properties of VO2 Films , 1972 .

[19]  H. Fetterman,et al.  Thin‐film VO2 submillimeter‐wave modulators and polarizers , 1977 .

[20]  H. Katzke,et al.  Theory of morphotropic transformations in vanadium oxides , 2003 .