A Computational Phase Field Study of Conducting Channel Formation in Dielectric Thin Films: A View Towards the Physical Origins of Resistive Switching

A phase field method is used to computationally study conducting channel morphology of resistive switching thin film structures. Our approach successfully predicts the formation of conducting channels in typical dielectric thin film structures, comparable to a range of resistive switches, offering an alternative computational formulation based on metastable states treated at the atomic scale. In contrast to previous resistive switching thin film models, our formulation makes no a priori assumptions on conducting channel morphology and its fundamental transport mechanisms.