Analytic understanding of resistive switching in ordered solids*

Mechanisms for resistive switching in transition metal
oxides/chalcogenides have been debated for past decades between the scenarios of
electrical and thermal origin. We have recently proposed a theory [1,2] which
showed that the some systems with metal-insulator transition support
resistive switching based on a dissipative Hubbard model under DC
electric field. The insulator-to-metal transition, calculated with the steady-state
nonequilibrium Green's function theory, produced hysteretic resistive
switching with filament formation which validates the electronic and
thermal mechanism simultaneously. In this talk, we present a detailed
analytic theory clarifying the nature of nonequilibrium excitations responsible for
the resistive switching via hot-electron effect, in-gap states and the
Landau-Zener tunneling. We derive the condition for the
insulator-to-metal and metal-to-insulator transitions and discuss
the relation of the switching fields to the equilibrium critical
temperature.

[1] Jiajun Li, Camille Aron, Gabriel Kotliar, and Jong E. Han, Nano Letters (2017).
[2] Jiajun Li, Camille Aron, Gabriel Kotliar, and Jong E. Han, Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 226403 (2015).