We investigate the bias-induced insulator-metal transition in organic electronics devices, on the basis of the Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model combined with the non-equilibrium Greens function formalism. The insulator-metal transition is explained with the energy levels crossover that eliminates the Peierls phase and delocalizes the electron states near the threshold voltage. This may account for the experimental observations on the devices that exhibit intrinsic bistable conductance switching with large on-off ratio.
The criticality of vacancy-induced metal-insulator transition (MIT) in graphene is investigated by Kubo-Greenwood formula with tight-binding recursion method. The critical vacancy concentration for the MIT is determined to be 0.053%. The scaling laws for transport properties near the critical point are examined showing several unconventional 2D localization behaviors. Our theoretical results have shed some new lights to the understanding of recent experiments in H-dosed graphene and of 2D disordered systems in general.
The quasi-two-dimensional organic superconductor beta-(BEDT-TTF)_2SF_5CH_2CF_2SO_3 (T_c approx 4.4 K)shows very strong Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations which are superimposed on a highly anomalous steady background magnetoresistance, R_b. Comparison with de Haas- van Alphen oscillations allow a reliable estimate of R_b which is crucial for the correct extraction of the SdH signal. At low temperatures and high magnetic fields insulating behavior evolves. The magnetoresistance data violate Kohlers rule, i.e., cannot be described within the framework of semiclassical transport theory, but converge onto a universal curve appropriate for dynamical scaling at a metal-insulator transition.
The capability to control the type and amount of charge carriers in a material and, in the extreme case, the transition from metal to insulator is one of the key challenges of modern electronics. By employing angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) we find that a reversible metal to insulator transition and a fine tuning of the charge carriers from electrons to holes can be achieved in epitaxial bilayer and single layer graphene by molecular doping. The effects of electron screening and disorder are also discussed. These results demonstrate that epitaxial graphene is suitable for electronics applications, as well as provide new opportunities for studying the hole doping regime of the Dirac cone in graphene.
While some of the most elegant applications of topological insulators, such as quantum anomalous Hall effect, require the preservation of Dirac surface states in the presence of time-reversal symmetry breaking, other phenomena such as spin-charge conversion rather rely on the ability for these surface states to imprint their spin texture on adjacent magnetic layers. In this work, we investigate the spin-momentum locking of the surface states of a wide range of monolayer transition metals (3$d$-TM) deposited on top of Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$ topological insulators using first principles calculations. We find an anticorrelation between the magnetic moment of the 3$d$-TM and the magnitude of the spin-momentum locking {em induced} by the Dirac surface states. While the magnetic moment is large in the first half of the 3$d$ series, following Hunds rule, the spin-momentum locking is maximum in the second half of the series. We explain this trend as arising from a compromise between intra-atomic magnetic exchange and covalent bonding between the 3$d$-TM overlayer and the Dirac surface states. As a result, while Cr and Mn overlayers can be used successfully for the observation of quantum anomalous Hall effect or the realization of axion insulators, Co and Ni are substantially more efficient for spin-charge conversion effects, e.g. spin-orbit torque and charge pumping.
Metal-insulator transitions (MIT),an intriguing correlated phenomenon induced by the subtle competition of the electrons repulsive Coulomb interaction and kinetic energy, is of great potential use for electronic applications due to the dramatic change in resistivity. Here, we demonstrate a reversible control of MIT in VO2 films via oxygen stoichiometry engineering. By facilely depositing and dissolving a water-soluble yet oxygen-active Sr3Al2O6 capping layer atop the VO2 at room temperature, oxygen ions can reversibly migrate between VO2 and Sr3Al2O6, resulting in a gradual suppression and a complete recovery of MIT in VO2. The migration of the oxygen ions is evidenced in a combination of transport measurement, structural characterization and first-principles calculations. This approach of chemically-induced oxygen migration using a water-dissolvable adjacent layer could be useful for advanced electronic and iontronic devices and studying oxygen stoichiometry effects on the MIT.