Conduction in non-crystalline systems

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Abstract
A summary is given of mechanisms which may be responsible for non-ohmic conduction due to strong fields in thin films of non-crystalline semi-conductors. This is used for a discussion of the mechanism of threshold switching in thin films of chalcogenide semicondutors. The predictions of the thermal mechanism are outlined, as is also the author's earlier electronic (double injection) model for the on-state. It is suggested that both a thermal on-state and an electronic on-state are possible, and that both have been observed. The on-state in the switches described by Ovshinsky (1968) we believe to be electronic; the thermal model makes predictions quite different from those observed, particularly with respect to the transition to a memory state. On the other hand the process leading up to switching into an electronic state normally involves heating and perhaps a thermal instability; and as a consequence the dependence on temperature and film thickness of the voltages leading to electronic and thermal breakdown can in many cases be similar.

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