ELECTROFORMING IN MIM STRUCTURE OF SIOX AND SIOX/SNO COMPOSITE DIELECTRIC THIN-FILMS

Electroforming and related phenomena in SiOx and SiOx-SnO thin films incorporated in copper-oxide-copper metal-insulator-metal structures have been investigated. Both types of devices showed voltage-controlled negative resistance, voltage memory effects (thermal and threshold) and electron emission. The voltage-controlled negative resistance and voltage memory effects may be interpreted in terms of the filamentary model of Dearnaley et al. The electron emission phenomenon is attributed to the Dearnaley model as modified by Rakhshani et al. The a.c. conductance of the devices before and after forming was also studied and the results support the proposed filamentary model of the electroforming process.