Effect of ultraviolet irradiation on electrical resistance and phase transition characteristics of thin film vanadium oxide

摘要

Metal-insulator transitions in strongly correlated oxides such as vanadium oxide (VO_2) are of great scientific and technological interest. Due to the presence of multiple oxidation states, synthesis of high-quality VO_2 films on substrates with the desired phase transition characteristics such as large jumps in phase transition resistance is a challenge. We show that the resistance ratio across the metal-insulator transition as well as the resistance of thin film VO_2 can be modulated at relatively low temperatures by the use of ultraviolet irradiation. The enhanced oxygen incorporation due to creation of excited oxygen species enables controllably tunable stoichiometry.