Terahertz and Metal-insulator Transition Properties of VO2 Film Grown on Sapphire Substrate with MBE

doi:10.15541/jim20160456

Abstract

Abstract:

High quality stoichiometric VO₂ films were grown on single crystal sapphire substrates by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), the film thicknesses were precisely controlled on the nanoscale ranging from 15 nm to 60 nm. For the optimized sample, a distinct reversible metal-insulator transition (MIT) with abrupt resistance change more than four orders of magnitude was observed, which was comparable to the ever reported result for high quality single crystal VO₂. Especially, the optical properties in the terahertz (THz) frequency range were characterized with THz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDs) measurements for samples with various thicknesses, and the results indicate that the THz properties of VO₂ film was significantly affected by the thickness. Therefore, the thickness should to be precisely controlled to obtain reproducible and reliable performance. The THz devices based on VO₂ film may benefit significantly from these achievements.

Key words: vanadium dioxide film, terahertz time-domain spectroscopy (THz-TDs), molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), metal-insulator transition

CLC Number:

TB34

SUN Hong-Jun, WANG Min-Huan, BIAN Ji-Ming, MIAO Li-Hua, ZHANG Yu-Zhi, LUO Ying-Min. Terahertz and Metal-insulator Transition Properties of VO₂ Film Grown on Sapphire Substrate with MBE[J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2017, 32(4): 437-442.

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Schematic diagram of THz-TDs measurement system

Fig. 2 Typical XRD patterns of VO2 films grown on sapphire substrates by MBE

Fig. 3 AFM images with scanning area of 4 μm×4 μm for surface morphology of VO2 films grown on sapphire substrates by MBE with various thicknesses(a) S1; (b) S2; (c) S3; (d) S4

Table 1 Detailed MIT parameters of the optimized VO2 thin film grown by MBE

Parameters	T_c /℃	ΔH/℃	ΔT/℃	Amplitude
VO₂	66 (Heating)	5	9 (Heating)	1.01×10⁴
VO₂	61 (Cooling)	5	12 (Cooling)	1.01×10⁴

Fig. 4 Thermal hysteresis loops of sheet resistance of the optimized VO2 sample grown on sapphire substrates by MBEInset shows the differential d(R)/d(T) versus temperature curves for heating and cooling branches to determine the phase transition Tc from the Gaussian fit of the peaks. The lower plan exhibits the schematic diagram of microstructure evolution with the infinite linear V-V chains in different temperature range

Fig. 5 (a) The time-domain THz transmission of VO2 films grown on sapphire substrates by MBE with preciously controlled thickness ranging from 15 nm to 60 nm and (b) the THz transmitted amplitude as a function of film thickness

References 21

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Terahertz and Metal-insulator Transition Properties of VO₂ Film Grown on Sapphire Substrate with MBE

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