Abstract
The novel phenomena induced by symmetry breaking at homointerfaces between
ferroic variants in ferroelectric and ferroelastic materials have attracted recently much
attention. Using variable temperature scanning microwave microscopy, we demonstrate
the mesoscopic strain-induced metal-insulator phase transitions in the vicinity of
ferroelastic domain walls in the semiconductive VO2 that nucleated at temperatures as much as 10-12 °C below bulk transition, resulting in the formation of conductive
channels in the material. Density functional theory is used to rationalize the process low
activation energy. This behavior, linked to the strain inhomogeneity inherent in
ferroelastic materials, can strongly affect interpretation of phase-transition studies in VO2
and similar materials with symmetry-lowering transitions, and can also be used to enable
new generations of electronic devices though strain engineering of conductive and
semiconductive regions.
