Non-thermal resistive switching in Mott insulator nanowires
Open Access
- 12 June 2020
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Springer Science and Business Media LLC in Nature Communications
- Vol. 11 (1), 1-9
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-16752-1
Abstract
Resistive switching can be achieved in a Mott insulator by applying current/voltage, which triggers an insulator-metal transition (IMT). This phenomenon is key for understanding IMT physics and developing novel memory elements and brain-inspired technology. Despite this, the roles of electric field and Joule heating in the switching process remain controversial. Using nanowires of two archetypal Mott insulators—VO2 and V2O3 we unequivocally show that a purely non-thermal electrical IMT can occur in both materials. The mechanism behind this effect is identified as field-assisted carrier generation leading to a doping driven IMT. This effect can be controlled by similar means in both VO2 and V2O3, suggesting that the proposed mechanism is generally applicable to Mott insulators. The energy consumption associated with the non-thermal IMT is extremely low, rivaling that of state-of-the-art electronics and biological neurons. These findings pave the way towards highly energy-efficient applications of Mott insulators.Funding Information
- U.S. Department of Energy (DE-SC0019273)
- National Science Foundation (ECCS-1542148)
This publication has 68 references indexed in Scilit:
- A scalable neuristor built with Mott memristorsNature Materials, 2012
- Sub-100 fJ and sub-nanosecond thermally driven threshold switching in niobium oxide crosspoint nanodevicesNanotechnology, 2012
- Field-induced metal-insulator transition and switching phenomenon in correlated insulatorsPhysical Review B, 2008
- Breakdown of a Mott Insulator: A Nonadiabatic Tunneling MechanismPhysical Review Letters, 2003
- Distinction between the Poole-Frenkel and tunneling models of electric-field-stimulated carrier emission from deep levels in semiconductorsPhysical Review B, 2000
- Dynamical mean-field theory of strongly correlated fermion systems and the limit of infinite dimensionsReviews of Modern Physics, 1996
- Vanadium oxide films for optical switching and detectionOptical Engineering, 1993
- Metal—antiferromagnetic-insulator transition inalloysPhysical Review B, 1983
- The electronic structure of impurities and other point defects in semiconductorsReviews of Modern Physics, 1978
- On Pre-Breakdown Phenomena in Insulators and Electronic Semi-ConductorsPhysical Review B, 1938