Self-Healing of Proton Damage in Lithium Niobite ( ${\rm LiNbO}_{2}$)

Proton radiation damage and short-term annealing are investigated for lithium niobite (
${\rm LiNbO}_{2}$
) mixed electronic-ionic memristors. Radiation damage and short-term annealing were characterized using Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) to determine changes in the device resistance and the lithium ion mobility. The radiation damage resulted in a 0.48% change in the resistance at a fluence of
${10^{14}}~\hbox{cm}^{ - 2}$
. In-situ short-term annealing at room temperature reduced the net detrimental effect of the damage with a time constant of about 9 minutes. The radiation damage mechanism is attributed predominantly to displacement damage at the niobium and oxygen sites trapping lithium ions that are responsible for induced polarization within the material. Short term annealing is attributed to room temperature thermal annealing of these defects, freeing the highly mobile lithium ions.