Publication Date:
2016-02-02
Description:
We report the epitaxial growth and the mechanism of a higher temperature insulator-to-metal-transition (IMT) of vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) thin films synthesized on aluminum nitride (AlN)/Si (111) substrates by a pulsed-laser-deposition method; the IMT temperature is T IMT ≈ 350 K. X-ray diffractometer and high resolution transmission electron microscope data show that the epitaxial relationship of VO 2 and AlN is VO 2 (010) ‖ AlN (0001) with VO 2 [101] ‖ AlN [ 2 1 ̄ 1 ̄ 0 ] zone axes, which results in a substrate-induced tensile strain along the in-plane a and c axes of the insulating monoclinic VO 2 . This strain stabilizes the insulating phase of VO 2 and raises T IMT for 10 K higher than T IMT single crystal ≈ 340 K in a bulk VO 2 single crystal. Near T IMT , a resistance change of about four orders is observed in a thick film of ∼130 nm. The VO 2 /AlN/Si heterostructures are promising for the development of integrated IMT-Si technology, including thermal switchers, transistors, and other applications.
Electronic ISSN:
2166-532X
Topics:
Mechanical Engineering, Materials Science, Production Engineering, Mining and Metallurgy, Traffic Engineering, Precision Mechanics
