Relaxation oscillators consist of periodic variations of a physical quantity triggered by a static excitation. They are a typical consequence of nonlinear dynamics and can be observed in a variety of systems. VO₂ is a correlated oxide with a solid-state phase transition above room temperature, where both electrical resistance and lattice parameters undergo a drastic change in a narrow temperature range. This strong nonlinear response allows to realize spontaneous electrical oscillations in the megahertz range under a DC voltage bias. These electrical oscillations are employed to set into mechanical resonance a microstructure without the need of any active electronics, with small power consumption and with the possibility to selectively excite specific flexural modes by tuning the value of the DC electrical bias in a range of few hundreds of millivolts. This actuation method is robust and flexible and can be implemented in a variety of autonomous DC-powered devices.

@en

Combination of electric fields and Joule self-heating is used to change the oxygen stoichiometry and promote oxygen vacancy drift in a freestanding (La,Sr)MnO3 thin film microbridge placed in controlled atmosphere. By controlling the local oxygen vacancies concentration, we can reversibly switch our (La,Sr)MnO3-based microbridges from metallic to insulating behavior on timescales lower than 1 s and with small applied voltages (@en