Influence of humidity on the resistive switching of hexagonal boron nitridebased memristors

We are excited to share the latest research by Lukas Völkel and collaborators from Lehrstuhl für Elektronische Bauelemente (ELD), Forschungszentrum Jülich, AIXTRON SE, and AMO GmbH, recently published in npj 2D Materials and Applications.

🔬 The study explores the influence of humidity on the resistive switching behavior of hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)-based memristors. The devices demonstrated stable switching under ambient conditions, but intriguingly, failed to switch in vacuum.

💡 Through extensive measurements and simulations, the team identified the key role of water molecules in enabling electrochemical filament formation — a critical process for resistive switching. This discovery has significant implications, especially since computer chips are typically encapsulated to shield them from environmental factors.

📈 Ongoing and future work will focus on:
– Understanding the precise role of relative humidity in switching performance
– Determining the optimal water content for device operation
– Exploring alternative material stacks to enable switching even in dry or encapsulated environments

🔗The full article is available open access here.

Congratulations to: Lukas Völkel, Rana Walied Ahmad, Alana Bestaeva, Dennis Braun, Sofia Cruces, Jimin Lee, Sergej Pasko, Simonas Krotkus, Michael Heuken, Stephan Menzel & Max Lemme