Observing 'quantized' conductance steps in silver sulfide: Two parallel resistive switching mechanisms
| Autor: | Jan M. van Ruitenbeek, J. J. T. Wagenaar, Monica Morales-Masis |
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| Rok vydání: | 2012 |
| Předmět: |
Materials science
Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics Condensed matter physics Orders of magnitude (temperature) Silver sulfide Nanowire FOS: Physical sciences General Physics and Astronomy Conductance law.invention chemistry.chemical_compound chemistry law Electrical resistivity and conductivity Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) Electrode Scanning tunneling microscope Thin film |
| Zdroj: | Journal of Applied Physics, 111, 014302 |
| ISSN: | 1089-7550 0021-8979 |
| DOI: | 10.1063/1.3672824 |
| Popis: | We demonstrate that it is possible to distinguish two conductance switching mechanisms in silver sulfide devices at room temperature. Experiments were performed using a Ag$_2$S thin film deposited on a wide Ag bottom electrode, which was contacted by the Pt tip of a scanning tunneling microscope. By applying a positive voltage on the silver electrode the conductance is seen to switch to a state having three orders of magnitude higher conductance, which is related to the formation of a conductive path inside the Ag$_2$S thin film. We argue this to be composed of a metallic silver nanowire accompanied by a modification of the surrounding lattice structure. Metallic silver nanowires decaying after applying a negative voltage allow observing conductance steps in the breaking traces characteristic for atomic-scale contacts, while the lattice structure deformation is revealed by gradual and continuously decreasing conductance traces. Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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