Crystal structures in VO2, showing the motion of the vanadium (black arrows) with respect to the oxygen ions across the metal-insulator transition. VO2 acts like an insulator at low temperatures, but like a metal at near room temperature. (Image: Lawrence Berkeley National Lab)
The tiny transistor is the heart of the electronics revolution, and Penn State scientists have discovered a way to give this workhorse a big boost, using a new technique to incorporate vanadium oxide into the electronic devices. Vanadium dioxide is just a specific combination of the elements vanadium and oxygen, but it has an unusual property called the metal-to-insulator transition.

The researchers thought that if they could add vanadium oxide close to a device's transistor it could boost the transistor's performance. Also, by adding it to the memory cell, it could improve the stability and energy efficiency to read, write, and maintain the information state. The implementation of vanadium dioxide can also benefit existing memory technologies.

The metal-to-insulator property of vanadium dioxide can ideally enhance state-of-the-art non-volatile memories by using the material as an augmentation device, which can also serve as a selector in some memory architecture.

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