Reversible resistive switching induced by an electric field in oxide-based resistive switching memory shows a promising application in future information storage and processing. It is believed that there are some local conductive filaments formed and ruptured in the resistive switching process. However, as a fundamental question, how electron transports in the formed conductive filament is still under debate due to the difficulty to directly characterize its physical and electrical properties. Here we investigate the intrinsic electronic transport mechanism in such conductive filament by measuring thermoelectric Seebeck effects. We show that the small-polaron hopping model can well describe the electronic transport process for all resistance states, although the corresponding temperature-dependent resistance behaviours are contrary. Moreover, at low resistance states, we observe a clear semiconductor–metal transition around 150 K. These results provide insight in understanding resistive switching process and establish a basic framework for modelling resistive switching behaviour.
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