Modulation of metal-insulator transition properties in the strain-controlled VO₂ micro sample

Abstract

VO₂, which is a strongly correlated metal dioxide, has the potential to be fabricated as a thermal trigger because of the characteristics of metal-insulator transition (MIT) around the room temperature. In this research, in order to clarify the MIT behavior affected by the planarly confinement effect, the MIT process of VO₂ micron structures was systematically studied, and the phenomenon of the phase transition temperature change depending on the confined VO₂ structures size was found. As the sample size increases from 2 to 10 μm, the phase transition temperature shows a totally upward trend from 268—277 to 276—285 K. This result implies that the transition temperature was converted by virtues of the spatial confinement.