Forming-free and hard-breakdown depressed resistive switching based on natural conductive path

•Forming-free, compliance-current needless and hard-breakdown depressed resistive switching is proved.•Resistive switching is triggered by the break and recovery of natural conductive path.•Resistive switching is not dependent on the direction of initial electric field.•A dynamic model is used to explain the switching process.

A forming-free, compliance-current needless and hard-breakdown depressed resistive switching is demonstrated in Cu2O film. Different from the conventional resistive switching behaviors, this reversible switch is free from the forming process, and does not dependent on the direction of the initial electric field. The resistive switching effect may be triggered by the break and recovery of natural conductive path, and a dynamic model is proposed to explain the switching process. Meanwhile, the influence of degradation in local region is also discussed, which is important for switching mechanism understanding. These results are an important step towards the development of resistive switching devices and their applications.