Resistive switching effects in single metallic tunneling junction with nanometer-scale gap

We fabricated a single tunneling junction with a nanometer-scale gap between Pt electrodes. We found that the gap distance became smaller after a current sweep, which was presumably caused by the migration of the Pt atoms at the anode. The junction showed a reproducible negative differential resistance characteristic after reduction in the gap. The junction also showed resistive switching characteristics with a resistance ratio of over 100 by applying voltage of different waveforms. The tunneling area and gap distance for on/off-state were quantitatively estimated by fitting the measured characteristics to the simple model as 100 nm(2) and 0.8/1.2 nm, respectively. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3559612]