Strain mediated Filling Control nature of the Metal-Insulator Transition of VO2 and electron correlation effects in nanostructured films

• Published in: Applied surface science 2021-02, Vol.540, p.148341, Article 148341
• Main Authors: D'Elia, A., Grazioli, C., Cossaro, A., Li, B.W., Zou, C.W., Rezvani, S.J., Pinto, N., Marcelli, A., Coreno, M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electron correlation; Fermi level population control; Filling Control; Nanostructured Disordered VO2; Screening parameter; Strained VO2
• ISSN: 0169-4332; 1873-5584
• DOI: 10.1016/j.apsusc.2020.148341

[Display omitted] •Metal Insulator Transition in strained VO2 is of the Filling Control type.•Strain emerges as a key parameter to control the electron correlation in VO2.•Fermi Level population is controlled by orbital ordering.•The Metal Insulator Transition in disordered VO2 is purely electronic. The Metal-Insulator transition (MIT) in VO2 is characterized by the complex interplay among lattice, electronic and orbital degrees of freedom. In this contribution we investigated the strain-modulation of the orbital hierarchy and the influence over macroscopic properties of the metallic phase of VO2 such as Fermi Level (FL) population and metallicity, i.e., the material ability to screen an electric field, by means of temperature-dependent X-ray Absorption Near Edge Structure (XANES) and Resonant Photoemission spectroscopy (ResPES). We demonstrate that the MIT in strained VO2 is of the Filling Control type, hence it is generated by electron correlation effects. In addition, we show that the MIT in Nanostructured (NS) disordered VO2, where the structural phase transition is quenched, is driven by electron correlation. Therefore a fine tuning of the correlation could lead to a precise control of the transition features.