ANALOG MEMORY AND BALLISTIC ELECTRON EFFECTS IN METAL-AMORPHOUS SILICON STRUCTURES

We present experimental results showing that p+ amorphous silicon memory structures exhibit polarity-dependent analogue memory switching. The effect is non-volatile and we propose that it is associated with changes in a tunnelling barrier within the structure. It is also observed that conduction in the memory ON state is restricted to a narrow conducting channel through which the electrons can, under certain conditions, travel ballistically. As a consequence, quantized resistance levels associated with ballistic electron transport are observed under certain circumstances. In the presence of a magnetic field, additional steps in the quantized resistance levels occur. A particular feature of this quantized resistance is that the effect can be observed at relatively high temperatures (up to about 190 K).