Resistance switching at the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3

At the interface of LaAlO3/SrTiO3 with film thickness of 3 unit cells or greater, a reproducible electric-field-induced bipolar resistance switching of the interfacial conduction is observed on nanometer scale by a biased conducting atomic force microscopy under vacuum environment. The switching behavior is suggested to be an intrinsic feature of the SrTiO3 single crystal substrates, which mainly originates from the modulation of oxygen ion transfer in SrTiO3 surface by external electric field in the vicinity of interface, whereas the LaAlO3 film acts as a barrier layer. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3490646]