title: Electrically driven reversible insulator-metal phase transition in 1T-TaS2.
abstract: In this work, we demonstrate abrupt, reversible switching of resistance in 1T-TaS2 using dc and pulsed sources, corresponding to an insulator-metal transition between the insulating Mott and equilibrium metallic states. This transition occurs at a constant critical resistivity of 7 mohm-cm regardless of temperature or bias conditions and the transition time is significantly smaller than abrupt transitions by avalanche breakdown in other small gap Mott insulating materials. Furthermore, this critical resistivity corresponds to a carrier density of 4.5 × 10(19) cm(-3), which compares well with the critical carrier density for the commensurate to nearly commensurate charge density wave transition. These results suggest that the transition is facilitated by a carrier driven collapse of the Mott gap in 1T-TaS2, which results in fast (3 ns) switching.
authors.affiliation: Electrical Engineering Department, ‡Materials Science and Engineering Department, and §Center for 2-Dimensional and Layered Materials, The Pennsylvania State University , University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, United States.
authors.forename: Matthew J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Hollander
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Wen-Jian
authors.initials: WJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Li-Jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yu-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Joshua A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Suman
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Datta
keywords: 1T-TaS2; Mott insulator; charge density wave; insulator−metal-transition; resistive switching