The resistance hysteresis of vanadium dioxide ([Formula: see text]) is a key feature in revealing mechanisms of a phase transition as well as emerging applications. In this study, a dynamical model based on random-resistor networks is developed to simulate the transport properties of [Formula: see text] thin films. The reversible metal–insulator phase transition of each microscopic domain is captured by a modified Landau-type functional. The proposed model enables analysis of not only the formation of conducting filaments driven by an electric field, but also the thermal-driving reversal curves of resistance hysteresis. It is shown that the appearance of a hysteresis loop as well as the aggregation of metallic domains can be tuned via the interactions of each domain with its neighbors and the substrate. The interaction effects are vital for the persistence of metallic domains, which can re-trigger the insulating-to-metallic transition by a subthreshold voltage bias with the delay time much longer than the transition switching time. These results are in agreement with experimental observations and can be helpful in developing [Formula: see text]-based key components ranging from infrared bolometers to the volatile resistive switches for neuromorphic computing.
We propose and investigate an active grating of gold metallic structure on vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin film illuminated by an intense light. Nonuniform phase transition in VO2 film is expected due to the thermoplasmonics effect where the plasmonic-induced light absorption features an enhanced local heat generation at nanometer-scale. The spatial profiles of the electric field, the heat generation, and the temperature distribution, as well as the temperature-dependent dielectric parameters in VO2 film, are solved numerically in a self-consistent manner. Our results show that the evolution of the metallic and semiconducting phases of VO2 changes the effective dielectric environment of the grating and modifies its optical response in a controlled way. The interplay of the thermoplasmonics effect and the phase transition processes can thus provide another degree of freedom in designing optical modulators or switches which are remotely tunable via incident light.
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