Nanoimaging of Electrical Failure in VO<sub>2</sub> Resistive-Switching Nanodevices
Anatoly Shabalin, Javier del Valle, Aliaksei Charnukha, Nelson Hua, Martin V. Holt, Dimitri Basov, Iván K. Schuller, Oleg Shpyrko
Abstract
Pushing the limits of electronics to higher performance has always been constrained by fatigue and failure of the constituting devices. For high-speed resistive-switching components, this problem is particularly important. Here, we used complementary nanoimaging techniques to explore electrical damage in a resistive-switching material VO2. The revealed mechanisms of electrical damage include surface melting, coalescence of material into droplets, and ablation. This three-stage scenario is likely to be found in other correlated oxides and more broadly in the general class of resistive-switching systems. We suggest strategies for preventing the electrical failure of devices in resistive-switching technology.