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Microscopic Theory of Resistive Switching in Ordered Insulators: Electronic versus Thermal Mechanisms

  • SUNY Buffalo
  • Ecole Normale Supérieure
  • KU Leuven
  • Rutgers University

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigate the dramatic switch of resistance in ordered correlated insulators when they are driven out of equilibrium by a strong voltage bias. Microscopic calculations on a driven-dissipative lattice of interacting electrons explain the main experimental features of resistive switching (RS), such as the hysteretic I-V curves and the formation of hot conductive filaments. The energy-resolved electron distribution at the RS reveals the underlying nonequilibrium electronic mechanism, namely Landau-Zener tunneling, and also justifies a thermal description in which the hot-electron temperature, estimated from the first moment of the distribution, matches the equilibrium-phase transition temperature. We discuss the tangled relationship between filament growth and negative differential resistance and the influence of crystallographic structure and disorder in the RS.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2994-2998
Number of pages5
JournalNano Letters
Volume17
Issue number5
DOIs
StatePublished - May 10 2017

Keywords

  • Joule heating
  • Landau−Zener tunneling
  • Resistive switching
  • nonequilibrium Green's function method
  • nonequilibrium-phase transition

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