Conductivity switching effect in Cd_1–xZn_xTe films

We report an experimental study of the conductivity switching effect in mono and polycrystalline layers of Cd_1–xZn_xTe grown by MBE on the Si(001)/Au and n⁺- GaAs(001) substrates. The current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of metal-semiconductor junctions show that the conductivity of the Cd_1–xZn_xTe structures exhibit two states: high- and low-resistive. Electrical pulses applied to the layers trigger the switching effect between these two states. The coefficient of resistivity switching is of the order of 10⁴ while its reproducibility is repetitive about 100 switching cycles. The bistablity of the conductance in Cd_1–xZn_xTe layers supports the hypothesis of the ferroelectricity in this material. (© 2006 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)