Synthesis and Electrical Behavior of VO2 Thin Films Grown on SrRuO3 Electrode Layers

<p>  </p> <p>In this study, VO2 films were grown on conducting oxide SrRuO3 layers. Apart from applications in magnetism, SrRuO3 is a widely studied template material to create multi-functional oxide heterostructures. Here, SrRuO3 buffered SrTiO3 (111) and Si/SiO2 were selected as platforms for VO2 growth. The properties of VO2 thin films grown on SrRuO3 buffer layers, as well as thermally and electric-field induced metal-insulator transition were systematically studied. Numerous growth experiments were conducted to identify the optimal growth conditions. Utilizing the current shunting associated with the conductive underlayer, electric-field induced metal-insulator transition was investigated in both the in-plane and out-of-plane configurations. A distributed resistance network with general applicability to understanding metal-insulator transitions is proposed to predict the electrical behavior of VO2 grown on conducting layers.</p>