Temperature dependence and control of the Mott transition in VO₂ based devices

The transition voltage of an abrupt metal-insulator transition (MIT), observed by applying an electric field to two-terminal devices fabricated on a Mott insulator VO_2 film, decreases with increasing temperature up to 334K. The abrupt current jump disappears above 334 K near the MIT temperature. These results suggest that the mechanism of the abrupt MIT induced by temperature is the same as that by an electric field. The magnitude of the current jump (a large current) decreases with increasing external resistance; this is an important observation in terms of applying the abrupt MIT to device applications. Furthermore, the temperature and resistance dependence of the MIT cannot be explained by the dielectric breakdown although a current jump known as breakdown is similar to that observed in an abrupt MIT.