Switching time of nanowire memory

Cadmium sulfide nanowires of 10-nm diameter, electrodeposited in porous anodic alumina films, exhibit an electronic bistability that can be harnessed for non-volatile memory. The current-voltage characteristics of the wires show two stable conductance states that are well-separated (conductances differ by more than 4 orders of magnitude) and long lived (longevity > 1 year at room temperature). These two states can encode binary bits 0 and 1. Here we report measurements of the switching time to switch from the high- to the low-conductance state. These measurements also shed some light on the physical mechanisms underlying the bistability.