VO(x) Phase Mixture of Reduced Single Crystalline V(2)O(5): VO(2) Resistive Switching

The strongly correlated electron material, vanadium dioxide (VO [Formula: see text]), has seen considerable attention and research application in metal-oxide electronics due to its metal-to-insulator transition close to room temperature. Vacuum annealing a V [Formula: see text] O [Formula: see text] (010) single crystal results in Wadsley phases (V [Formula: see text] O [Formula: see text] , n > 1) and VO [Formula: see text]. The resistance changes by a factor of 20 at 342 K, corresponding to the metal-to-insulator phase transition of VO [Formula: see text]. Macroscopic voltage-current measurements with a probe separation on the millimetre scale result in Joule heating-induced resistive switching at extremely low voltages of under a volt. This can reduce the hysteresis and facilitate low temperature operation of VO [Formula: see text] devices, of potential benefit for switching speed and device stability. This is correlated to the low resistance of the system at temperatures below the transition. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy measurements reveal a complex structural relationship between V [Formula: see text] O [Formula: see text] , VO [Formula: see text] and V [Formula: see text] O [Formula: see text] crystallites. Percolation paths incorporating both VO [Formula: see text] and metallic V [Formula: see text] O [Formula: see text] are revealed, which can reduce the resistance below the transition and result in exceptionally low voltage resistive switching.