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Electrically reversible cracks in an intermetallic film controlled by an electric field

Publication Type

Journal Article

Authors

Liu, Z.Q, J.H Liu, M.D Biegalski, J.-M Hu, S.L Shang, Y Ji, J.M Wang, S.L Hsu, A.T Wong, M.J Cordill, B Gludovatz, C Marker, H Yan, Z.X Feng, L You, M.W Lin, T.Z Ward, Z.K Liu, C.B Jiang, L.Q Chen, R.O Ritchie, H.M Christen, Ramamoorthy Ramesh

DOI

10.1038/s41467-017-02454-8

Abstract

Cracks in solid-state materials are typically irreversible. Here we report electrically reversible opening and closing of nanoscale cracks in an intermetallic thin film grown on a ferroelectric substrate driven by a small electric field ( 0.83 kV/cm). Accordingly, a nonvolatile colossal electroresistance on-off ratio of more than 108 is measured across the cracks in the intermetallic film at room temperature. Cracks are easily formed with low-frequency voltage cycling and remain stable when the device is operated at high frequency, which offers intriguing potential for next-generation high-frequency memory applications. Moreover, endurance testing demonstrates that the opening and closing of such cracks can reach over 107 cycles under 10-μs pulses, without catastrophic failure of the film. © 2017 The Author(s).

Journal

Nature Communications

Volume

Year of Publication

2018

ISSN

20411723

Notes

cited By 18

Research Areas

Ramesh Lab