Electrical Switching in Thin Film Structures Based on Molybdenum Oxides

Abstract

We report on the experimental study of electrical instabilities in thin film structures on the basis of molybdenum oxides. Thin films of molybdenum oxide are obtained by thermal vacuum evaporation and anodic oxidation. The results of X-ray structural analysis, investigation of optical and electrical properties, are presented. It is shown that the initial vacuum-deposited oxide represents amorphous MoO 3 . In the MOM (metal-oxide-metal) structures with Mo oxide films obtained by the two methods, the effect of electrical switching with an S-shaped current-voltage characteristic is found. We put forward a hypothesis according to which the switching mechanism is associated with the development of electrical instability caused by the insulator-to-metal transition in Mo 8 O 23 . The switching channel, comprising this lower valence oxide, emerges in the initial film during the process of electrical forming of the MOM structure. The obtained results indicate the possibility of application of these structures in oxide micro-and nanoelectronics as electronic switches and other electronic devices.

Thermo Optical Properties and Related Electronic Polarizabilities of MoO3 Thin Films Using Ellipsometry

“…For example, as is observed in Fig. 4, the trend in the k-plot manifests metal-insulator transition features over the temperature range 200-130 K, but there are no indication of Peirels transitions (Rao et al, 2013;Pergament et al, 2014) in the investigated temperature range.…”

Negative differential resistance and hysteresis in Au/MoO3−δ/Au devices

“…This corresponds to N-shaped NDR. 1 The I-V curve passes close to the origin of the coordinates (V ¼ 0, I ¼ 0) for all frequencies shown in Fig. 1.…”

“…This is consistent with other reports that demonstrate that deposition of MoO 3 on a substrate at near room temperature results in amorphous lms. 1,22 Aer each evaporation step, vacuum was stopped, and the layers were exposed to ambient air for min.…”

“…Eventually, the current I increases for even higher voltages, resulting in an N-shaped NDR curve. 1 The peaks in CV do not appear under dc conditions. The peaks are generated by the increased current required for oxidizing or reducing the ions in the electrolyte, and a decrease in the peaks, which leads to dV/dI < 0, takes place when the ions, to be oxidized or reduced, are depleted.…”

“…This is related to the I-V curve shapes denoted as N-NDR and S-NDR. 1 (d) The temperature may be constant or a change in temperature is required to produce the NDR.…”