Mesoscopic electronic heterogeneities in the transport properties of V2O3 thin films

TL;DR

This paper investigates the coexistence of metallic and insulating phases in V2O3 thin films, revealing mesoscopic heterogeneities and phase separation that influence their transport properties.

Contribution

It introduces a simple resistor model to quantify phase coexistence and links structural interactions to extended phase heterogeneity in V2O3 thin films.

Findings

Evidence of phase separation with metallic and insulating domains.

A resistor model explains the macroscopic transport behavior.

Correlation between structural data and transport properties.

Abstract

The spectacular metal-to-insulator transition of V2O3 can be progressively suppressed in thin film samples. Evidence for phase separation was observed using microbridges as a mesoscopic probe of transport properties where the same film possesses domains that exhibit a metal-to-insulator transition with clear first order features or remain metallic down to low temperatures. A simple model consisting of two parallel resistors can be used to quantify a phase coexistence scenario explaining the measured macroscopic transport properties. The interaction between film and substrate is the most plausible candidate to explain this extended phase coexistence as shown by a correlation between the transport properties and the structural data.