Memory Switching and Ionic Conduction Phenomena of Glasses in the System As₂S₃-Ag

Abstract

As₂S₃Agx glasses with varying Ag content were prepared. It has been found that the glasses with x≥0.402 (15 wt % Ag) show reversible memory switching and remarkable ionic conduction by silver ions at room temperature. The formation of conductive filament in this memory switching was not identified by microscopic observation. However, a dendritic high conducting path, which never again returns to have a high resistance, is formed by passing a larger current through the sample in the memory state. In a low dc field, silver ions migrate to the negative electrode and are deposited on its surface as metallic silver, whereas a depletion layer of silver ions is formed near the positive one. The activation energy obtained from temperature dependence of resistivity changes sharply in the composition range between x=0.311 and 0.402.