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Structural Manipulation of Phase Transitions by Self-induced Strain in Geometrically Confined Thin Films

ORAL

Abstract

Strain engineering is used very frequently to tune material properties in thin films. The most studied sources of strain are lattice mismatch and differential thermal contraction between the substrate and film. However, we show that in materials which undergo a structural phase transition (SPT), a third and often overlooked source of strain may play a very significant role. If the substrate confines the area of the film, the SPT may induce stress which changes the evolution of the transition. This is a 2D analog of the isochoric water-ice transition, where the freezing point drops below 0°C.
To illustrate this, we use the prototypical Mott insulator V2O3 which has a first order SPT coupled to a metal-insulator transition to show how self-induced stress can drastically alter structural and electronic properties. We found means of controlling the magnitude of self-strain by modifying substrate morphology. This effect may be important for many materials which exhibit a first order SPT and are subjected to geometrical constraints.

Kalcheim et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 2020, 2005939

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Presenters

  • Yoav Kalcheim

    Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, University of California, San Diego

Authors

  • Yoav Kalcheim

    Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, University of California, San Diego

  • Coline Adda

    University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Pavel Salev

    Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Minhan Lee

    Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Nareg Ghazikhanian

    Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Nicolas M Vargas

    Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Javier del Valle

    Department of Quantum Matter Physics, University of Geneva, University of Geneva, Univ of Geneva

  • Henry Navarro

    Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego

  • Ivan K Schuller

    Department of Physics and Center for Advanced Nanoscience, University of California, San Diego, Department of Physics, University of California San Diego