Field-induced metal-insulator transition and switching phenomenon in correlated insulators

We study the nonequilibrium switching phenomenon associated with the metal-insulator transition under electric field E in correlated insulators by a gauge-covariant Keldysh formalism. Due to the feedback effect of the resistive current I, this occurs as a first-order transition with a hysteresis of I-V characteristics having a lower threshold electric field (similar to 10(4) V cm(-1)) much weaker than that for the Zener breakdown. It is also found that the localized midgap states introduced by impurities and defects act as hot spots across which the resonant tunneling occurs selectively, which leads to the conductive filamentary paths and reduces the energy cost of the switching function.