Interplay of bulk and interface effects in the electric-field driven transition in magnetite

Abstract

Contact effects in devices incorporating strongly-correlated electronic materials are comparatively unexplored. We have investigated the electrically-driven phase transition in magnetite (100) thin films by four-terminal methods. In the lateral configuration, the channel length is less than 2 $\mu$m, and voltage-probe wires $\sim$100 nm in width are directly patterned within the channel. Multilead measurements quantitatively separate the contributions of each electrode interface and the magnetite channel. We demonstrate that on the onset of the transition contact resistances at both source and drain electrodes and the resistance of magnetite channel decrease abruptly. Temperature dependent electrical measurements below the Verwey temperature indicate thermally activated transport over the charge gap. The behavior of the magnetite system at a transition point is consistent with a theoretically predicted transition mechanism of charge gap closure by electric field.

6 pages, 5 figures, to appear in PRB

References in corpus (7)

• Evidance for an Oxygen Diffusion Model for the Electric Pulse Induced Resistance Change Effect in Oxides
• Electrically-driven phase transition in magnetite nanostructures
• High-energy photoemission on Fe3O4: Small polaron physics and the Verwey transition
• Terahertz Conductivity at the Verwey Transition in Magnetite
• Nanogaps with very large aspect ratios for electrical measurements
• Field-induced metal-insulator transition and switching phenomenon in correlated insulators
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Cited by in corpus (3)

• Electronic transport and dynamics in correlated heterostructures
• Verwey transition in single magnetite nanoparticles
• Statistical distribution of the electric field driven switching of the Verwey state in Fe3O4