Mechanism for bipolar resistive switching in transition-metal oxides

M. J. ROZENBERG; M. J. SÁNCHEZ; R. WEHT; C. ACHA; F. GOMEZ-MARLASCA; P. LEVY

PHYSICAL REVIEW B

AMER PHYSICAL SOC

Lugar: College Park, Maryland; Año: 2010 vol. 81 p. 45101 - 45105

1098-0121

We introduce a model that accounts for the bipolar resistive switching phenomenon observed in transition metal oxides. It qualitatively describes the electric-field-enhanced migration of oxygen vacancies at the nanoscale. The numerical study of the model predicts that strong electric fields develop in the highly resistive dielectric-electrode interfaces leading to spatially inhomogeneous oxygen vacancies distribution and a concomitant resistive switching effect. The theoretical results qualitatively reproduce nontrivial resistance hysteresis experiments that we also report providing key validation to our model.