Characterizations and understanding of conducting filaments in resistive switching devices

Characterizations of resistive switching devices, especially through direct, in situ methodologies, provide valuable information that could lead to improved insights into the device switching mechanism. Here we discuss the characterization efforts on resistive switching devices to date, with emphasis on direct transmission electron microscopy (TEM) observations on conducting filament formation and growth dynamics. Other characterization techniques used in filament analysis will also be covered. In the end, we will discuss existing challenges in continued filament characterizations and mechanism studies.