An Investigation of VO2 Nanowire Arrays for Integrated Sensing. From Non-Stochastic Nanowires to Stochastic Nanostructures

This paper presents a novel nanoscale platform based on vanadium dioxide (VO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf>) two-terminal devices shaped like nanowires (NWs). For the first time we report CMOS compatible VO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf> two-terminal devices with little-to-no stochasticity in the absence of electroforming phenomenon, as well as partially suspended stochastic nanostructures. Characterization for varying NWs number and contact distance offers an overview on possible designs with predictable switching behavior. Importantly, we report proof-of-concept optical sensing for both types of nanostructures, highlighting the compromise between stochasticity and performance for future optical sensors based on nanostructured VO<inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</inf>.