Influence of Oxygen Pressure on Switching in Memoristors Based on Electromoformed Open Sandwich Structures

Abstract

Samples of nonvolatile electrically reprogrammable memory elements (memristors) based on electroformed TiN–TiO2–SiO2–W open sandwich structures, made using thin-film technology, are studied. A technique is developed and experimental studies are performed of the effect of oxygen pressure over the surface of the insulating gap of structures and the current limiting mode during the action of a switching pulse from a low to a highly conductive state on the characteristics of memory elements. The existence of a threshold value of oxygen pressure at which switching stops and its dependence on the value of the limiting current are shown. An interpretation of the experimental results based on the ideas developed on the mechanisms of the processes of the formation and disappearance of particles of the conducting phase in the insulating gap of an electroformed structure is presented.