Understanding the intermediate initial state in TiO2-δ/La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 stack-based bipolar resistive switching devices.

Bipolar resistive switching (RS) behavior was observed in epitaxially deposited TiO2-δ/La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 stacks. An intermediate initial state of this device demonstrated that the original resistive state would switch to either the higher or the lower state, depending only on the electrical polarity of the initial measurement. As the analogue intermediate states were obtained by device fabrication, the direct observation of these switching states was possible, knowing the microscopic physical origin of the RS effect. Based on x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis, an understanding of this interesting phenomenon was proposed, well supporting the oxygen vacancy formation and recombination mechanism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]