Memristive tri-stable resistive switching at ruptured conducting filaments of a Pt/TiO ₂/Pt cell

A tri-stable memristive switching was demonstrated on a Pt/TiO ₂/Pt device and its underlying mechanism was suggested through a series of electrical measurements. Tri-stable switching could be initiated from a device in unipolar reset status. The unipolar reset status was obtained by performing an electroforming step on a pristine cell which was then followed by unipolar reset switching. It was postulated that tri-stable switching occurred at the location where the conductive filament (initially formed by the electroforming step) was ruptured by a subsequent unipolar reset process. The mechanism of the tri-stable memristive switching presented in this article was attributed to the migration of oxygen ions through the ruptured filament region and the resulting modulation of the Schottky-like interfaces. The assertion was further supported by a comparison study performed on a Pt/TiO ₂/TiO _2-x/Pt cell.