Direct observation of oxygen vacancy-driven structural and resistive phase transitions in La<sub>2/3</sub>Sr<sub>1/3</sub>MnO<sub>3</sub>.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28230081.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms14544 and PMC identifier 5331213.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Resistive switching in transition metal oxides involves intricate physical and chemical behaviours with potential for non-volatile memory and memristive devices. Although oxygen vacancy migration is known to play a crucial role in resistive switching of oxides, an in-depth understanding of oxygen vacancy-driven effects requires direct imaging of atomic-scale dynamic processes and their real-time impact on resistance changes. Here we use in situ transmission electron microscopy to demonstrate reversible switching between three resistance states in epitaxial La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 films. Simultaneous high-resolution imaging and resistance probing indicate that the switching events are caused by the formation of uniform structural phases. Reversible horizontal migration of oxygen vacancies within the manganite film, driven by combined effects of Joule heating and bias voltage, predominantly triggers the structural and resistive transitions. Our findings open prospects for ionotronic devices based on dynamic control of physical properties in complex oxide nanostructures.