Synaptic plasticity and memristive behavior operated by atomic switches

We demonstrate that the resistive switching memory, called an atomic switch, emulates the synaptic plasticity underlying short-term and long-term memory formations in the human brain. The change in conductance of the atomic switch is considered analogous to the change in strength of a biological synapse that varies according to stimulating input pulses. The atomic switch also exhibits conventional memristive behavior in which the output depends on the history of input signal. These observations indicate that the atomic switch has potential for use as an essential building block for neural computing systems.