Ovonic materials for memory nano-devices: Stability of I(V) measurements

Measurements of the I(V) characteristic in Ovonic semiconductors are notoriously unstable. Experimental setups must therefore rely on pulsed schemes in which only the positive-slope branches of the characteristic are detected. This paper considers the time-dependent, trap-limited conduction model proposed by the authors for investigating this type of devices, and shows that the model is suitable for stability analysis. The conditions that make the measurement stable are assessed; also, examples of simulations in the oscillatory regime are given, in the field-driven case.