Non-equilibrium transport in VO$_2$ nanoparticles

Over recent years, the insulator to metal transition of the vanadium dioxide (VO$_2$) Mott insulator has been revisited revealing surprising new features: (i) electronic inhomogeneities were mapped out by local infrared spectroscopy near the transition temperature T$_{IM}$; (ii) electric-field-induced resistance switching has been found in this material. To further investigate the insulator/metal transition, we have performed non-equilibrium transport measurements on 200nm VO$_2$ dots using a variable temperature/magnetic field conducting AFM setup. I(V) spectra of numerous VO$_2$ dots as a function of temperature have enabled us to determine the voltage threshold, the current jump and the the noise spectrum as voltage is swept across the electric-field-induced transition.