MEMORY SWITCHING IN AMORPHOUS GE-SE-TL CHALCOGENIDE SEMICONDUCTOR-FILMS

The switching effects in amorphous GeSe2, GeSe4, GeSe2Tl and GeSe4Tl t hin films have been investigated. The observed switching phenomenon fo r these compositions was of the memory type. The threshold switching v oltage was found to increase linearly with increasing film thickness ( 80-740 nm), while it decreased exponentially with increasing temperatu re (T < T(g)). The effect of adding thallium to both amorphous GeSe2 a nd amorphous GeSe4 results in decreasing the values of the threshold e lectric field, the activation energy of switching, as well as the ther mal activation energy of conduction. The results obtained are explaine d in accordance with the electrothermal model of breakdown.