CURRENT-CONTROLLED NEGATIVE-RESISTANCE BEHAVIOR AND MEMORY SWITCHING IN BULK AS-TE-SE GLASSES

The current-voltage characteristics and electrical switching behaviour of bulk AsxTe100-x-ySey glasses have been investigated over a wide composition range (25 less-than-or-equal-to x less-than-or-equal-to 60; 10 less-than-or-equal-to y less-than-or-equal-to 25). Most of the glasses studied have been found to exhibit a current-controlled negative-resistance behaviour with memory. A sharp switching is observed in the glass of composition As50Te30Se20. A strong dependence of the switching fields on composition, which resembles the variation of crystallization temperatures with x, has been noticed. Further, a current pulse of 100 mA amplitude and 10 mus duration is found to re-set the memory-switched As-Te-Se glasses to the original high-resistance state. The sample can be made to switch again, with +/-2% variation in the switching fields. This indicates the possible application of these materials in 'read mostly' memories.