Threshold conduction in amorphous phase change materials: effects of temperature

TL;DR

This paper investigates how temperature influences the threshold switching behavior in amorphous phase change materials, using an extended conduction model to explain experimental data and noise phenomena.

Contribution

It introduces a temperature-dependent conduction model that explains threshold switching and noise in amorphous phase change materials.

Findings

Temperature significantly affects threshold switching curves.

The extended model aligns well with experimental data.

Low frequency noise arises from charge carrier dynamics.

Abstract

We emphasize the role of temperature in explaining the IV ovonic threshold switching curve of amorphous phase change materials. The Poole-Frankel conduction model is supplemented by considering effects of temperature on the conductivity in amorphous materials and we find agreement with a wide variety of available data. This leads to a simple explanation of the snapback in threshold switching. We also argue that low frequency current noise in the amorphous state originates from trains of moving charge carriers derailing and restarting due to the different local structures within the amorphous material.