Aspects of the self-organization of carbonaceous conducting nanostructures during electroforming of a metal-insulator-metal open sandwich structure with a nanometer-size insulating gap

Experimental results are presented on the electroforming of a nanometer-size MIM (metal-insulator-metal) diode with a carbonaceous active medium. The diode is in the form of an MIM sandwich structure which is open on one face and has a nanometer-size insulating gap. Measurements of its current-voltage characteristics are made which reflect processes of self-organization and self-forming of carbonaceous conducting nanostructures in the insulating gap. It is shown that the properties of such a circuit element differ greatly from those of a conventional MIM diode. These differences can be explained if it is taken into account that a thin insulating layer is built in, in series with the carbonaceous conducting medium growing in the insulating gap. The data obtained indicate that the carbonaceous structure is of nanometer size in all three spatial dimensions. The models that have been developed to represent this structure correspond well with the experimental results, in particular the spatiotemporal self-organization in this system. Zh. Tekh. Fiz. 68, 85–93 (November 1998)