Nondestructive Visualization of Interfacial Conducting Inhomogeneities in Memristive Oxides by Electroluminescence. Issue 1 (30th November 2020) - Lin, Weijian
Abstract: The formation of conducting paths consisting of oxygen vacancies plays a crucial role in the resistive switching (RS) phenomenon in oxides. However, it is extremely challenging to probe the dynamic distribution of oxygen vacancies under changing electric field without breaking the device. In this work, the temporal‐spatial variation of oxygen vacancies in memristive Nb‐SrTiO3 devices has been investigated nondestructively by defect states mediated electroluminescence (EL). The disparate spatial inhomogeneities of conducting paths penetrating the Au/Nb‐SrTiO3 interfaces are clearly demonstrated on the device scale, which is completely subject to the forming bias polarity. Moreover, the EL spectroscopy results confirm the existence of temporary nonequilibrium states in conducting paths. The causal relationship between the EL emission and oxygen vacancies concentration paves a pathway to explore RS dynamics in oxides, and further to design novel electro‐optical devices. Abstract : The temporal‐spatial variation of oxygen vacancies in memristive Nb‐SrTiO3 devices has been investigated nondestructively by defect states mediated electroluminescence. The disparate spatial inhomogeneities of conducting paths penetrating the Au/Nb‐SrTiO3 interfaces are demonstrated on the device scale. The spectroscopy results confirm the existence of temporary nonequilibrium states in conducting paths.