Purely electronic insulator-metal transition in rutile VO2
Volatile resistive switching in neuromorphic computing can be tuned by external stimuli such as temperature or electric-field. However, this type of switching is generally coupled to structural changes, resulting in slower reaction speed and higher energy consumption when incorporated into an electronic device. The vanadium dioxide (VO<sub>2</sub>), which has near room temperature metal-insulator transition (MIT), is an archetypical volatile resistive switching system. Here, we demonstrate an isostructural MIT in an ultrathin VO<sub>2</sub> film capped with a photoconductive cadmium sulfide (CdS) layer. Transmission electron microscopy, resistivity experiments, and first-principles calculations show that the hole carriers induced by CdS photovoltaic effect are driving the MIT in rutile VO<sub>2</sub>. The insulating-rutile VO<sub>2</sub> phase has been proved and can remain stable for hours. Our finding provides a new approach to produce purely electronically driven MIT in VO<sub>2</sub>, and widens its applications in fast-response, low-energy neuromorphic devices.
Authors
- Shyue Ping Ong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5726-2587)
- Chenyu Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2749-4739)
- Henry Navarro (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2899-1953)
- Ali C. Basaran (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3560-3691)
- Mingzhao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0999-5214)
- Zishen Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0578-2868)
- M. J. Rozenberg (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9161-0370)
- Iván K. Schuller (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9078-7120)
- Shaobo Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8791-5315)
- Alexandre Pofelski (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4653-9197)
- Jasleen Kaur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9047-8697)
- M. P. M. Dean (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5139-3543)
- C. L. Chen
- Xing Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4524-600X)
- Yimei Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1638-7217)
- Qingping Meng
Institutions
- Andrews University (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Brookhaven National Laboratory (US)
- Université Paris-Saclay (FR)
- Laboratoire de physique des Solides (FR)
- Center for NanoScience (DE)
- University of California San Diego (US)
- Zhengzhou University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-07-01
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-60243-0
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Transition Metal Oxide Nanomaterials
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 1.82
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
- Office of Science
- University of California, San Diego
- Basic Energy Sciences
- Brookhaven National Laboratory