Metallic VO${}_{2-x}$ nanobeam implanted with an insulating VO${}_2$ segment toward artificial electrical modulation

Insulator-metal transition (IMT) in correlated vanadium oxides is among critical issues and has drawn significant attention in the communities of condensed matter physics, functional Mott materials and devices. It is always essential to understand and manipulate IMT behaviors in vanadium oxides toward advanced electronics and photonics. Selected-area chemical nanoengineering (SACNE) enables direct modulating of structural compositions and physical/chemical properties. Herein, the realization of an IMT in metallic VO${}_{2-x}$ nanobeams through artificially implanting an insulating VO${}_2$ segment is described. Original temperature-dependent IMT behaviors are suppressed when insulating VO${}_2$ was reduced into metallic VO${}_{2-x}$. By exploiting an implanting nanoengineering, oxidation states and compositions to fabricate an insulating segment in the metallic VO${}_{2-x}$ nanobeam are selectively controlled. Then, an abrupt temperature-dependent resistance changing is demonstrated in the VO${}_{2-x}$ nanobeam with implanted VO${}_2$ segment. It is expected that the modulations on segmental compositions and IMT behaviors in the VO${}_{2-x}$ nanobeam would help for the understanding of correlated oxides and the construction of IMT-based sensors and transistors. (© 2022 Wiley‐VCH GmbH)