Investigating the origins of ultra-short relaxation times of silver filaments in forming-free SiO2-based conductive bridge memristors

The threshold switching effect is considered of outmost importance for a variety of applications ranging from the reliable operation of crossbar architectures to emulating neuromorphic properties with artificial neural networks. This property is strongly believed to be associated with the rich inherit dynamics of a metallic conductive filament (CF) formation and its respective relaxation processes. Understanding the origin of these dynamics is very important in order to control the degree of volatility and design novel electronic devices. Here, we present a synergistic numerical and experimental approach in order to deal with that issue. The distribution of relaxation time is addressed through time-resolved pulse measurements whereas the entire switching behavior is modeled through a 2D dynamical model by taking into account the destructive interference of the drift/diffusion transport mechanisms and the Soret diffusion flux due to the intense local Joule heating. The proposed mechanism interprets successfully both the threshold to bipolar switching transition as well as the self-rectifying effects in SiO2-based memories. The model incorporates the effect of electrode materials on the switching pattern and provides a different perception of the ionic transport processes, shading light into the ultra-small lifetimes of the CF and explaining the different behavior of the silver or copper active materials in a conductive bridge random access memory architecture.