Electromigration-driven weak resistance switching in high-temperature superconducting devices

Complex oxides are at the heart of modern functional material developments. In particular,
the perovskite ABO3 structure is seen in compounds used in oxide solar cells, resistive memories, fuel cell catalysts, superconducting tapes, quantum bits and programmable magnets, making it one of the most studied material families. One important advantage of these systems is that their properties may be controlled in situ to change between various electronic states, usually by means of thermal or electric conditioning. In this work, we investigate the two-terminal resistive switching properties of the perovskite-like oxide YBa2Cu3O7−δ when the system is driven by electric current. We perform all-electrical switching to characterize and control low-amplitude resistance changes, and we implement finite element modelling to explain how these effects can be properly accounted for by oxygen-vacancy counterflow induced by electric bias. The presented research sheds new light on the bulk displacement of oxygen atoms in perovskite materials with potential for sensing and memory technologies.