Electrically reversible cracks in an intermetallic film controlled by an electric field.

ABSTRACT: Cracks in solid-state materials are typically irreversible. Here we report electrically reversible opening and closing of nanoscale cracks in an intermetallic thin film grown on a ferroelectric substrate driven by a small electric field (~0.83?kV/cm). Accordingly, a nonvolatile colossal electroresistance on-off ratio of more than 108 is measured across the cracks in the intermetallic film at room temperature. Cracks are easily formed with low-frequency voltage cycling and remain stable when the device is operated at high frequency, which offers intriguing potential for next-generation high-frequency memory applications. Moreover, endurance testing demonstrates that the opening and closing of such cracks can reach over 107 cycles under 10-?s pulses, without catastrophic failure of the film.

SUBMITTER: Liu ZQ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5752679 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature