Photothermally controlled 50Â mA gating in VO2-based planar device using NIR laser diode

By utilizing a near infrared laser diode as an excitation light source, we demonstrated a photothermally controlled current gating of 50 mA in a two-terminal planar device based on a vanadium dioxide (VO2) thin film grown by a pulsed laser deposition method. The photothermally controlled on/off triggering of the device current was accomplished by controlling the output power of the laser beam that illuminated the VO2 film. The transient responses of photothermally triggered currents were analyzed when periodical laser pulses from the laser diode stimulated the VO2 device at a variety of pulse widths and repetition rates. A switching contrast between off-state and on-state currents was evaluated as ∼11905, and average rising and falling times were measured as ∼45 and ∼19 ms, respectively.