Epitaxial growth of higher transition-temperature VO2 films on AlN/Si

We report the epitaxial growth and the mechanism of a higher temperature insulator-to-metal-transition (IMT) of vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films synthesized on aluminum nitride (AlN)/Si (111) substrates by a pulsed-laser-deposition method; the IMT temperature is TIMT ≈ 350 K. X-ray diffractometer and high resolution transmission electron microscope data show that the epitaxial relationship of VO2 and AlN is VO2 (010) ‖ AlN (0001) with VO2 [101] ‖ AlN [2110] zone axes, which results in a substrate-induced tensile strain along the in-plane a and c axes of the insulating monoclinic VO2. This strain stabilizes the insulating phase of VO2 and raises TIMT for 10 K higher than TIMT single crystal ≈ 340 K in a bulk VO2 single crystal. Near TIMT, a resistance change of about four orders is observed in a thick film of ∼130 nm. The VO2/AlN/Si heterostructures are promising for the development of integrated IMT-Si technology, including thermal switchers, transistors, and other applications.