Electrical activation of insulator-to-metal transition in vanadium dioxide single-crystal nanobeam and their high-frequency switching performances

We demonstrate the integration of vanadium dioxide single-crystal nanobeams fabricated by modified vapor–liquid–solid method as electrical switching elements into a radio-frequency transmission line and evaluate the performances of the overall device in modulating the transmission of the conveyed RF electromagnetic waves. The switching capability of the RF device is based on the metal–insulator transition of VO2 nanobeams, with an on/off electrical switching ratio of 104, i.e., resistance modulation from more than 106Ω when the wires are in the insulating state to only ≈20Ω when they are in the metal-like state. The thermal and electrical activation of the VO2 wires between the two dissimilar states is resulting in RF switching performances characterized by more than 15 dB change in the transmission coefficient of the device over the 100 MHz–24  GHz frequency domain.