Conductance quantization and synaptic behavior in a Ta2O5-based atomic switch.
Quantized conductance was observed in a cation-migration-based resistive switching memory cell with a simple metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure using a thin Ta(2)O(5) layer. The observed conductance changes are attributed to the formation and dissolution of a metal filament with an atomic point contact of different integer multiples in the Ta(2)O(5) layer. The results demonstrate that atomic point contacts can be realized in an oxide-based MIM structure that functions as a nanogap-based atomic switch (Terabe et al 2005 Nature 433 47). By applying consecutive voltage pulses at periodic intervals of different times, we also observed an effect analogous to the long-term potentiation of biological synapses, which shows that the oxide-based atomic switch has potential for use as an essential building block of neural computing systems.
International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0044, Japan. TSURUOKA.Tohru@nims.go.jp
Tohru
T
Tsuruoka
Tsuyoshi
T
Hasegawa
Kazuya
K
Terabe
Masakazu
M
Aono
D032701:Biomimetics; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D008954:Models, Biological; D010087:Oxides / Q000737:chemistry*; D013569:Synapses / Q000502:physiology*; D013635:Tantalum / Q000737:chemistry*
D010087:Oxides; D013635:Tantalum; C078151:tantalum oxide