CHALCOGENIDE SWITCHING DEVICES.

The class of non crystalline materials is reviewed and the stability of the chalcogenide glasses is discussed. The term chalcogenide indicates that at least one component of the glass is from group VIB of the periodic table. The fabrication is described and the performance of monostable threshold switching devices and bistable memory switching devices is dealt with. It is established that the threshold switching action is not primarily a thermal runaway process although thermal effects are necessarily involved in the filamentary conduction path after switching has occurred. Various electronic models of the threshold switching action are considered. A number of applications for both threshold and memory devices is presented.