Current-voltage characteristics of H2-Au molecular junctions exhibit intriguing steps around a characteristic voltage of 40 mV. Surprisingly, we find that a hysteresis is connected to these steps with a typical time scale > 10 ms. This time constant scales linearly with the power dissipated in the junction beyond an ofset power P_s = IV_s. We propose that the hysteresis is related to vibrational heating of both the molecule in the junction and a set of surrounding hydrogen molecules. Remarkably, we can engineer our junctions such that the hysteresis' characteristic time becomes >days. We demonstrate that reliable switchable devices can be built from such junctions.
@article{arxiv.0906.5006,
title = {Bistable hysteresis and resistance switching in hydrogen gold junctions},
author = {M. L. Trouwborst and E. H. Huisman and S. J. van der Molen and B. J. van Wees},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0906.5006},
year = {2015}
}