Switching location of a Bipolar Memristor. Chemical, Thermal and Structural Mapping

in Papers of Interest:

Format: Journal Abstract, Full Paper [free account req]

Title: “The switching location of a bipolar memristor: chemical, thermal and structural mapping”

Authors: R Stanley Williams, John Paul Strachan, Julien Borghetti, J Joshua Yang, Gilberto Medeiros-Ribeiro [ Nanoelectronic Research Group, Hewlett-Packard Labs ], Dmitri B Strukov [ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California Santa Barbara ]

Source: IOP Science, Nanotechnology, Volume 22 Number 25

Publication Date: 16 May 2011

Attribution: IOP Science

Synopsis: “Memristors […] progress is still critically limited by a lack of understanding of the physical processes occurring at the nanoscale. Here we correlate device electrical characteristics with local atomic structure, chemistry and temperature. We resolved a single conducting channel that is made up of a reduced phase of the as-deposited titanium oxide. […] We observed sufficient Joule heating to induce a crystallization of the oxide surrounding the channel, with a peculiar pattern that finite element simulations correlated with the existence of a hot spot close to the bottom electrode, thus identifying the switching location. This work reports direct observations in all three dimensions of the internal structure of titanium oxide memristors.”

Full Abstract at http://iopscience.iop.org/0957-4484/22/25/254015 [DOI Not yet Created].