Composition dependent electrical switching behavior of As-Te-I chalcohalide glasses

The electrical switching behavior of bulk, melt-quenched As45Te55−xIx glasses has been studied as a function of composition (3≤x≤10). It is found that these glasses exhibit a memory to threshold type change in switching behavior around 6 atom% of iodine (x≈6). The observed change in the electrical switching behavior has been understood on the basis of the sharp increase in thermal diffusivity of As45Te55−xIx glasses above x=6. It is further found that there is not much change in switching voltages (VT) with composition/average coordination number. There is also no pronounced signature of a stiffness transition seen in the variation of VT with composition. However, fluctuations are seen in VT around x=6, the composition around which a sharp thermally revering window has been observed in the previous alternating differential scanning calorimetric studies.