Observation of switching phenomena in discontinuous gold films by liquid-crystal technique

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Abstract
Metallic discontinuous films are known to exhibit multivalued conductivity states which are dependent on the applied voltage and deposition conditions of the films. By using cholesteric liquid crystal with controlled heating the growth of conduction passages in a discontinuous gold film is shown under magnifications of 100 and 400. By using a gap width of 12.5 μm and gold electrodes, the I–V characteristic is found to be ohmic in both low-and high-resistance states at low voltages (<3 V). The resistance increases by over five orders of magnitude after the first switching potential. A reversal to the low state then occurs at a higher potential. No evidence of the formation of a single thermal current filament during “turn-on” operation is found. The influence of deposition parameters on switching is indicated and an optimum set of values is presented.

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