Honglyoul Ju

Investigation of length-dependent characteristics of the voltage-induced metal insulator transition in VO2 film devices

The characteristics of the voltage-induced metal insulator transition (MIT) of VO2 film devices are investigated as a function of ambient temperature and length. At the onset of voltage-induced MIT, an abrupt formation of a conduction channel is observed within the insulating phase. The carrier density of the device varies with ambient temperature (TA) and device length (L) across MIT. As the device length is reduced, a statistically random appearance of the conduction channel is observed. Our results suggest that the primary operation principles of the VO2 device can be chosen between Joule heating effect and the electric field effect.

Controlling the Temperature and Speed of the Phase Transition of VO2 Microcrystals

We investigated the control of two important parameters of vanadium dioxide (VO2) microcrystals, the phase transition temperature and speed, by varying microcrystal width. By using the reflectivity change between insulating and metallic phases, phase transition temperature is measured by optical microscopy. As the width of square cylinder-shaped microcrystals decreases from ∼70 to ∼1 μm, the phase transition temperature (67 °C for bulk) varied as much as 26.1 °C (19.7 °C) during heating (cooling). In addition, the propagation speed of phase boundary in the microcrystal, i.e., phase transition speed, is monitored at the onset of phase transition by using the high-speed resistance measurement. The phase transition speed increases from 4.6 × 10(2) to 1.7 × 10(4) μm/s as the width decreases from ∼50 to ∼2 μm. While the statistical description for a heterogeneous nucleation process explains the size dependence on phase transition temperature of VO2, the increase of effective thermal exchange process is responsible for the enhancement of phase transition speed of small VO2 microcrystals. Our findings not only enhance the understanding of VO2 intrinsic properties but also contribute to the development of innovative electronic devices.

Interface structure and perpendicular exchange bias in (Co∕Pt)n∕FeMn multilayers

We have performed a critical experimental evaluation of the dependence of both perpendicular magnetic anisotropy and exchange bias on the structure of the ferromagnet (FM)/nonferromagnet and FM/antiferromagnet interfaces of (Co∕Pt)n and (Co∕Pt)n∕FeMn multilayers. The growth of these heterostructures by ion-beam sputtering was optimized and the characteristics of their interfaces were systematically controlled by varying the ion-beam energy from 250 to 1500 eV. Calculated effective anisotropy constants and exchange bias fields from hysteresis loops were correlated with both structural roughness and the degree of interdiffusion measured by x-ray reflectivity. Whilst the physical roughness remained unchanged, the degree of interdiffusion was found to increase with higher ion-beam energy—concurrently the magnetic anisotropy changed from perpendicular to in plane—leading directly to a decrease in exchange bias and coercivity.

Observation of in situ oxidation dynamics of vanadium thin film with ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy

The evolution of oxidation/reduction states of vanadium oxide thin film was monitored in situ as a function of oxygen pressure and temperature via ambient pressure X-ray photoemission spectroscopy. Spectra analysis showed that VO2 can be grown at a relatively low temperature, T ∼ 523 K, and that V2O5 oxide develops rapidly at elevated oxygen pressure. Raman spectroscopy was applied to confirm the formation of VO2 oxide inside of the film. In addition, the temperature-dependent resistivity measurement on the grown thin film, e.g., 20 nm exhibited a desirable metal-insulator transition of VO2 with a resistivity change of ∼1.5 × 103 times at 349.3 K, displaying typical characteristics of thick VO2 film, e.g., 100 nm thick. Our results not only provide important spectroscopic information for the fabrication of vanadium oxides, but also show that high quality VO2 films can be formed at relatively low temperature, which is highly critical for engineering oxide film for heat-sensitive electronic devices.

New Insights into The Transport and Field-Enhancement Effects in Sol-Gel Derived Colossal Magnetoresistive Thin Films

The transport mechanism underlying the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) of doped manganites is not yet understood and their technological applications are limited by the high fields (∼IT) required to obtain any significant MR. Following the development of a polymeric chemical synthesis route, we have investigated the O 2p unoccupied density of states in sol-gel derived La l-x Sr x MnO 3 (0 3 , by electron energy-loss spectroscopy at sub-eV resolution. The spectra show a distinct prepeak in the OK edge at the Fermi level, the intensity of which correlates directly with the conductivity of the film. Similar correlation was also obtained for La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3-z annealed in vacuum to obtain well defined oxygen content (z) in the film. This confirms that the charge carriers in these manganese perovskites have significant oxygen 2p hole character and suggests that the “double exchange” mechanism has to be modified. In another set of experiments we have studied room-temperature field amplification effects to enhance the low-field sensitivity of La 0.7 Sr 0.3 MnO 3-z films sandwiched between two thin rectangular slices of either α-Fe or Mn-Zn ferrite. This field amplification leads to an enhanced low-field MR value as high as 6% at an external field of 500 Oe which is 6 times the value observed without the amplification.