Mott resistive switching initiated by topological defects

Year: 2024

Authors: Milloch A., Figueruelo-Campanero I., Hsu W.F., Mor S., Mellaerts S., Maccherozzi F., Veiga L.S.I., Dhesi S.S., Spera M., Seo J.W., Locquet J.P., Fabrizio M., Menghini M., Giannetti C.

Autors Affiliation: Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, Dept Math & Phys, Brescia, Italy; Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Phys & Astron, Leuven, Belgium; Univ Cattolica Sacro Cuore, ILAMP Interdisciplinary Labs Adv Mat Phys, Brescia, Italy; IMDEA Nanociencia, Madrid, Spain; Univ Complutense, Fac Ciencias Fis, Madrid, Spain; Diamond Light Source, Didcot, Oxon, England; Katholieke Univ Leuven, Dept Mat Engn, Leuven, Belgium; Scuola Int Super Studi Avanzati SISSA, Via Bonomea 265, Trieste, Italy; CNR, Natl Inst Opt, INO, Via Branze 45, Brescia, Italy.

Abstract: Avalanche resistive switching is the fundamental process that triggers the sudden change of the electrical properties in solid-state devices under the action of intense electric fields. Despite its relevance for information processing, ultrafast electronics, neuromorphic devices, resistive memories and brain-inspired computation, the nature of the local stochastic fluctuations that drive the formation of metallic regions within the insulating state has remained hidden. Here, using operando X-ray nano-imaging, we have captured the origin of resistive switching in a V2O3-based device under working conditions. V2O3 is a paradigmatic Mott material, which undergoes a first-order metal-to-insulator phase transition together with a lattice transformation that breaks the threefold rotational symmetry of the rhombohedral metallic phase. We reveal a new class of volatile electronic switching triggered by nanoscale topological defects appearing in the shear-strain based order parameter that describes the insulating phase. Our results pave the way to the use of strain engineering approaches to manipulate such topological defects and achieve the full dynamical control of the electronic Mott switching. Topology-driven, reversible electronic transitions are relevant across a broad range of quantum materials, comprising transition metal oxides, chalcogenides and kagome metals. Resistive switching is crucial for applications in advanced computing technologies, but its microscopic mechanism is not fully understood. Here the authors use operando X-ray nanoimaging to study early-stage insulator-to-metal transition in V2O3, revealing resistive switching seeded by topological defects.

Journal/Review: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS

Volume: 15 (1)      Pages from: 9414-1  to: 9414-7

More Information: We thank Diamond Light Source for the provision of beamtime under proposal numbers MM27218, MM31711 and MM34455. We thank Manuel R. Osorio and Fernando J. Urbanos for the fabrication of sample electrodes at the Centre for Micro and Nanofabrication of IMDEA Nanociencia. C.G., A.M. and S.Mo. acknowledge financial support from MIUR through the PRIN 2017 (Prot. 20172H2SC4 005) and PRIN 2020 (Prot. 2020JLZ52N 003) programs and from the European Union – Next Generation EU, Missione 4 Componente 2, CUP J53D23001380008. Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore contributed to the funding of this research project and its publication. S.Mo. acknowledges partial financial support through the grant Finanziamenti ponte per bandi esterni from Universita Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. I.F.C. and M.M. acknowledge support from the Severo Ochoa Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (CEX2020-001039-S) and the Spanish AEI-MCIN PID2021-122980OB-C52 (ECoSOx-ECLIPSE). I.F.C holds a FPI fellowship from the Spanish AEI-MCIN (PRE2020-092625). W.-F.H., S.Me., J.W.S. and J.-P.L. acknowledge financial support by the KU Leuven Research Funds Project No. C14/21/083, iBOF/21/084, KAC24/18/056 and C14/17/080, as well as the FWO AKUL/13/19 and AKUL/19/023, and the Research Funds of the INTERREG-E-TEST Project (EMR113) and INTERREG-VL-VL-PATHFINDER Project (0559).
KeyWords: Metal-insulator-transition; Dynamics
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-53726-z