INSP - Sorbonne Université - 4 place Jussieu - 75005 Paris - Barre 22-23, 3^e étage, salle 317

Laurent Cario - DR CNRS - Institut des Matériaux de Nantes

Abstract

Mott insulators represent a broad class of materials that should be metallic according to conventional band theory, but are insulating due to on-site electron-electron repulsions. In such systems, electronic doping or external pressure may drive insulator to metal transitions (IMT) and lead to remarkable properties such as High Tc superconductivity or Magnetoresistance. For this reason, during the last decades, filling or bandwidth control IMT in Mott insulators have been the subject of intense research and led to astonishing academic results. In comparison, the use of these IMT in applications remains quite scarce and this may be ascribe to a simple reason : pressure or doping are not external parameters that are easily controllable in real devices. But recently a new exciting insulator to metal transition, namely the Electric Mott Transition was uncovered by applying electric pulses to Mott insulators 1. As the voltage pulse is the most common tuning parameter used in microelectronic devices the Electric Mott Transition may open a new area of applications for Mott insulators. This talk will review the Electric Mott Transition and the new functionalities that are opened by this property. The first part will be devoted to the experimental evidences of the Electric Mott Transition and of the concomitant resistive switching observed when Mott insulators are subjected to Electric pulses1,2,3. The second part will give an overview of the new functionalities enabled by the Electric Mott Transition and that may be used to build up a new type of RRAM memory 1 or of artificial neuron4.

1. 1. Janod, E. et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 25, 6287–6305 (2015)
2. 2. Guiot, V. et al. Nat. Commun. 4, 1722 (2013)
3. 3. Diener P. Phys Rev Lett a, (2018)
4. 4. Stoliar, P. et al. Adv. Funct. Mater. 27, 1604740(1–7) (2017).