Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamic Extremal Principles During Filament Formation in ECM Memristors

TL;DR

This paper investigates the filament formation process in ECM memristors, revealing that entropy production and energy dissipation are minimized during filament formation, based on non-equilibrium thermodynamics principles.

Contribution

It introduces a thermodynamic extremal principle approach to understand filament morphology in ECM memristors, supported by kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.

Findings

Filament formation minimizes entropy production and energy dissipation.

The approach links filament morphology to non-equilibrium thermodynamic principles.

Simulations support the extremal principles during filament formation.

Abstract

Electrochemical metallization (ECM) memristors have potential applications in future neuromorphic computing hardware. The set, reset, and variable-resistance features of these devices originate in the formation and breakup of metal filaments in a solid-state electrolyte. While the performance characteristics of these devices are widely investigated, the driving principles behind the morphology of the filament formation process remain unclear. In this study, we propose an approach motivated by the extremal principles found in non-equilibrium thermodynamics and observe an entropy production and energy dissipation rate minimization during the filament-forming process in kinetic Monte Carlo simulations.