Electrophoretic-like gating used to control metal-insulator transitions in electronically phase separated manganite wires

Nano Lett. 2013 Aug 14;13(8):3749-54. doi: 10.1021/nl4016842. Epub 2013 Jul 31.

Abstract

Electronically phase separated manganite wires are found to exhibit controllable metal-insulator transitions under local electric fields. The switching characteristics are shown to be fully reversible, polarity independent, and highly resistant to thermal breakdown caused by repeated cycling. It is further demonstrated that multiple discrete resistive states can be accessed in a single wire. The results conform to a phenomenological model in which the inherent nanoscale insulating and metallic domains are rearranged through electrophoretic-like processes to open and close percolation channels.