Non-Thermal Resistive Switching in Mott Insulators

Abstract

Resistive switching can be achieved in a Mott insulator by applying current/voltage, which triggers an insulator-metal transition (IMT). This phenomenon is key for understanding IMT physics and developing novel memory elements and brain-inspired technology. Despite this, the roles of electric field and Joule heating in the switching process remain controversial. We resolve this issue by studying nanowires of two archetypical Mott insulators - VO2 and V2O3. Our findings show a crossover between two qualitatively different regimes. In one, the IMT is driven by Joule heating to the transition temperature, while in the other, field-assisted carrier generation gives rise to a doping driven IMT which is purely non-thermal. By identifying the key material properties governing these phenomena, we propose a universal mechanism for resistive switching in Mott insulators. This understanding enabled us to control the switching mechanism using focused ion-beam irradiation, thereby facilitating an electrically driven non-thermal IMT. The energy consumption associated with the non-thermal IMT is extremely low, rivaling that of state of the art electronics and biological neurons. These findings pave the way towards highly energy-efficient applications of Mott insulators.

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• Nonequilibrium steady states of the electric-field-driven Mott insulator: Thermalization, emergent Wannier-Stark ladder, and dielectric breakdown

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• Nanoscale self-organisation and metastable non-thermal metallicity in Mott insulators
• Atomic origin for hydrogenation promoted bulk oxygen vacancies removal in vanadium dioxide
• Dynamic Control of Nonequilibrium Metal-Insulator Transitions
• Imaging the itinerant-to-localized transmutation of electrons across the metal-to-insulator transition in V${}_2$O${}_3$
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• Quantum Sensing of Insulator-to-Metal Transitions in a Mott Insulator
• Electrically driven insulator-to-metal transition in a correlated insulator: Electronic mechanism and thermal description
• Correlation induced emergent charge order in metallic vanadium dioxide
• Mott resistive switching initiated by topological defects
• Electric field induced Mott-insulator to metal transition and memristive behaviour in epitaxial V${}_2$O${}_3$ thin film
• Charge order dynamics in underdoped La${}_{1.6-\text{x}}$Nd${}_{0.4}$Sr${}_{\text{x}}$CuO${}_4$ revealed by electric pulses
• Phonon-assisted insulator-metal transitions in correlated systems driven by doping
• Volatile resistive-switched state in a bulk organic conductor with a sharp metal-insulator transition