Thin oxide films with perovskite or related structures and with transition metal doping show a reproducible switching in the leakage current with a memory effect. Positive or negative voltage pulses can switch the resistance of the oxide films between a low- and a high-impedance state in times shorter than 100 ns. The ratio between these two states is typically about 20 but can exceed six orders of magnitude. Once a low-impedance state has been achieved it persists without a power connection for months, demonstrating the feasibility of nonvolatile memory elements. Even multiple levels can be addressed to store two bits in such a simple capacitor-like structure.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.