Near-field imaging of domain switching in in-operando VO₂ devices

Experimental insight in the nanoscale dynamics underlying switching in novel memristive devices is limited owing to the scarcity of techniques that can probe the electronic structure of these devices. Scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy is a relatively novel approach to probe the optical response of materials with a spatial resolution well below the diffraction limit. We use this non-invasive tool to demonstrate that it provides detailed information on the origin and memory behaviour of ultra-thin films of vanadium dioxide. Simultaneously recorded $I(V)$ characteristics and near-field maps show that discontinuities in the I(V) characteristics arise from the sudden switching of insulating domains to metallic domains. At the threshold voltage, the domains form a continuous current path. The metallic domains persist once the bias voltage is removed, but narrow monoclinic regions appear around the domain boundaries. The key advantage of our approach is that it provides detailed information on the electronic structure at length scales raging from tens of nanometers up to tens of microns and is easily applied under \textit{in operando} conditions.