Low-power resistive switching in a two-terminal VO2 mesostructures

Vanadium dioxide (VO 2 ) is a promising material for high-speed, energy-efficient nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices due to its semiconductor–metal phase transition. In this study, we investigated resistive switching in a VO 2 mesostructures with varying contact widths. We showed that mesostructure formation significantly reduces the current flow area, heat dissipation and enhances the switching ratio compared to a solid film. At a contact width of 3 μm, the current jumped by ∼400 times, an order of magnitude greater than in the solid-film device, while the threshold switching power was ∼0.78 mW, also an order of magnitude lower. Moreover, reducing contact width in solid films caused current spreading over an area 2–10 times wider than the contact width, leading to unwanted thermal crosstalk in potential dense neuromorphic systems. We proposed mesostructure with contact widths less than 10 μm as an efficient approach to improving switching localization. • In VO 2 films, the current flow area increases from 2 to 10 contact widths when the contact width changes from 70 to 3 μm. • Forming a VO 2 mesostructure results in increasing current jump up to 400 times, an order of magnitude higher compared to VO 2 films. • Due to current localization and reduced heat dissipation, the threshold power in the mesostructure is reduced in order of magnitude up to 0.78 mW.