Piezoelectric control of resistance switching in VO2/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 heterostructure

The VO2/Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3 (PZT) thin film heterostructure device was first grown to investigate the piezoelectric control of resistance switching in Vanadium dioxide (VO2) films with a PZT underlayer. The results show that upon applying a continuous gate-electric-field (Eb) on the heterostructure, a butterfly shape resistance (R) vs. Eb curve of VO2 was observed. This R-Eb curve agrees well with the strain vs. electric-field “butterfly” curve of the underlying PZT, indicating that the resistance changes in VO2 were induced by piezoelectric lattice strain at the VO2/PZT interface. A repeated pulsed Eb modulation of VO2 resistance was further demonstrated. The resistance of the VO2 film decreases under compressive strain and increases under tensile strain. The resistance of change of the VO2 film under different strains has been explained using the first-principles calculations. The above results show that repeatable resistance switching in the VO2 film can be realized in the VO2/PZT heterostructure with a small Eb around room temperature.