Abstract
We describe here a rapid and reversible transition between a highly resistive and a conductive state effected by an electric field which we have observed in various types of disordered materials, particularly amorphous semiconductors1,2 covering a wide range of compositions. These include oxide- and boron-based glasses and materials which contain the elements tellurium and/or arsenic combined with other elements such as those of groups III, IV, and VI.
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References
Parts of this work were presented earlier: S. R. Ovshinsky, at the Fourth Symposium on Vitreous Chalcogenide Semiconductors, sponsored by the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad, 23–27 May 1967 (unpublished), and at the International Colloquium on Amorphous and Liquid Semiconductors, sponsored by the Rumanian Academy of Science, Bucharest, 28 September-3 October 1967 (unpublished), and in Proceedings of the Electronic Components Conference, Washington, D. C., May 1968 (McGregor and Werner, Inc., Washington, D. C., 1968), p. 313 ff.
S. R. Ovshinsky, U. S. Patent No. 3 271 591.
A discussion of the field of amorphous semiconductors and earlier references can be found in the review article by N. F. Mott, Advan. Phys. 16, 49 (1967).
The intrinsic behavior of amorphous semiconductors was first reported by A. F. Ioffé and B. T. Kolomiets; cf. Ref. 3.
The conductivity is expressed as σ = σ 0exp(-ΔE/kT).
H. Fritzsche, E. A. Fagen, and S. R. Ovshinsky, to be published.
Even in a circuit that is current stabilized by a 108-Ω load resistor, the unit cannot be held at an operating point between the highly resistive and the conducting state. In some cases, relaxation oscillations governed by the load resistor and the unit’s capacitance (C ≈ 3 pF) have been observed.
By changing the film thickness, values of V t between 2.5 and 300 V have been obtained.
Nichrome electrodes yield a particularly low value, V h = 0.5 V. A more detailed study is in progress.
H. Fritzsche, private communication.
K. W. Böer, E. Jahne, and E. Neubauer, Phys. Status Solidi 1, 231 (1961).
B. K. Ridley, Proc. Phys. Soc. (London) 81, 996 (1963).
M. H. Cohen, to be published.
This unit is not the one used for Figs. 1 and 2.
M. H. Cohen, R. G. Neale, and S. R. Ovshinsky, to be published.
G. A. Dussel and R. H. Bubé, J. Appl. Phys. 37, 2797 (1966).
S. R. Ovshinsky, to be published.
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© 1991 Plenum Press, New York
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Ovshinsky, S.R. (1991). Reversible Electrical Switching Phenomena in Disordered Structures. In: Adler, D., Schwartz, B.B., Silver, M. (eds) Disordered Materials. Institute for Amorphous Studies Series. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8745-9_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-8745-9_2
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