Chapter 5: Electrical Bistability by Creating an Internal Electrical Field and Its Application in Emerging Two-terminal Electronic Memory Devices

This chapter focusses on the electrical bistability observed in nanocomposite memory devices that have been studied over two decades. Bistability, in the context of memory devices, has been discussed and visual tools have been employed for its examination as a general mathematical function. The bistability observed in memory devices, in terms of electrical hysteresis, has been focussed and typical curves observed in several studies over the last fifty years have been consolidated and systematically examined. The development of the field has led to much confusion in terms of understanding of the device switching mechanism, which has been investigated in detail. The discrepancies in the proposed device behaviour and the observations have over time led to the rise of many opinions/models to explain the physics of the device conduction switching. In this chapter, the charge-trap models have been examined and solutions to some open questions have been proposed in terms of analysing at the system from the perspective of field generation, instead of the material interaction.