The Quantum Point-Contact Memristor

Among the wide variety of electron devices and systems that exhibit pinched hysteresis current-voltage (
I
-
V
) characteristics, those associated with filamentary-like conduction have attracted significant attention in the last years because of their potential relevance in the field of nonvolatile memories. At the nanoscale, the quantum conductance unit
G
₀
= 2
e
²
/
h
, where
e
is the electron charge and
h
is the Planck constant, establishes a well-defined upper current limit
I
=
G
₀
V
for the monomode ballistic conductor. Here, we explore two possible mechanisms that can lead to lower conductance loops: continuous modulation of the constriction's potential profile and discrete changes of the transmission probability through a chain of identical scatterers. The connection with the so-called memristive systems is also discussed.