Heteroepitaxial VO2 thin films on GaN: Structure and metal-insulator transition characteristics

Monolithic integration of correlated oxide and nitride semiconductors may open up new opportunities in solid-state electronics and opto-electronics that combine desirable functional properties of both classes of materials. Here, we report on epitaxial growth and phase transition-related electrical properties of vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin films on GaN epitaxial layers on c-sapphire. The epitaxial relation is determined to be (010)vo2 parallel (0001)GaN parallel (0001)A12O3 and [100]vo2 parallel [1210]GaN parallel [0110]A12O3 from x-ray diffraction. VO2 heteroepitaxial growth and lattice mismatch are analyzed by comparing the GaN basal plane (0001) with the almost close packed corrugated oxygen plane in vanadium dioxide and an experimental stereographic projection describing the orientation relationship is established. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggests a slightly oxygen rich composition at the surface, while Raman scattering measurements suggests that the quality of GaN layer is not significantly degraded by the high-temperature deposition of VO2. Electrical characterization of VO2 films on GaN indicates that the resistance changes by about four orders of magnitude upon heating, similar to epitaxial VO2 films grown directly on c-sapphire. It is shown that the metal-insulator transition could also be voltage-triggered at room temperature and the transition threshold voltage scaling variation with temperature is analyzed in the framework of a current-driven Joule heating model. The ability to synthesize high quality correlated oxide films on GaN with sharp phase transition could enable new directions in semiconductor-photonic integrated devices.