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

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.