Defect Level Switching for Highly-Nonlinear and Hysteretic Electronic Devices

TL;DR

This paper introduces defect level switching (DLS), a novel principle for designing nonlinear, hysteretic electronic devices by harnessing defect state transitions in semiconductors, enabling photoconductivity-like behavior without light.

Contribution

The paper proposes and demonstrates defect level switching as a new mechanism for resistive switching, expanding the design principles for nonlinear electronic devices.

Findings

Resistive switching in CdS is linked to defect state transitions.

DLS enables nonlinear and hysteretic behavior without illumination.

The approach generalizes to other semiconductor-based devices.

Abstract

Nonlinear and hysteretic electrical devices are needed for applications from circuit protection to next-generation computing. Widely-studied devices for resistive switching are based on mass transport, such as the drift of ions in an electric field, and on collective phenomena, such as insulator-metal transitions. We ask whether the large photoconductive response known in many semiconductors can be stimulated in the dark and harnessed to design electrical devices. We design and test devices based on photoconductive CdS, and our results are consistent with the hypothesis that resistive switching arises from point defects that switch between deep- and shallow-donor configurations: defect level switching (DLS). This new electronic device design principle - photoconductivity without photons - leverages decades of research on photoconductivity and defect spectroscopy. It is easily generalized and will enable the rational design of new nonlinear, hysteretic devices for future electronics.