Modeling and Simulation of VO2/Au Thin Film Transition Behavior

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) exhibits a metalinsulator transition (MIT) near 68 degrees C with a unique sharp resistivity change. Below this temperature, it behaves as a semiconductor with a high electrical resistivity, above it the material behaves as a metal with a low electrical resistivity. In this paper, modeling and FEM simulation using Comsol Multiphysics of metal-insulator transition behavior in VO2/Au thin film have been carried out in order to evaluate the electrical resistance behavior as a function of applied voltage and temperature sweeps. The simulation results present a similar transition behavior as in experiments owning a good sensitivity even at room temperature under a specific voltage. In addition, these simulations could be of a great interest to design potential sensors based on this transition metal oxide materials thin layer. The simulation results could be used as a powerful design tool for several MIT-based sensors and predict the feasibility of a variety of device with a high sensitivity at ambient temperature. Our simulations predict a transition at room-temperature under polarization of about 4.25V. Practically, in term of operating temperature range many applications are targeted going from data storage device to biosensors.