Ag-dispersive chalcogenide media for readily activated electronic memristor

In this paper, we report a Ag-dispersive chalcogenide thin film as a resistance-switching material for memristive devices. The memristive device with Ag/Ge2Se3Te5/W showed an initial low resistance state in its pristine stage (electro-forming-free), a low power consumption of 60 nW, robust state retention in a harsh environment of 85 degrees C for 2 h, and reliable endurance. We used high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, and electrical conduction characteristics to determine the microscopic origin of the memristive device. Comparative studies of different electrodes and resistive switching layers indicated that the diffusive Ag atom in the chalcogenide thin film plays a crucial role in realizing distinctive memristive characteristics. Further, we highlighted that the observed favorable performance of the memristive device is possible with a chalcogenide material, which can serve as an electrolyte for high ion diffusion and desirable electronic traps. Moreover, the memristive device exhibited an analogous conductance variation in a nonvolatile manner, which can be adopted as an artificial synaptic device. Based on the observed synaptic performance, an inference accuracy of-92% was achieved using handwritten numbers from the Modified National Institute of Standards and Technology database.