Partial Switching in Phase Change Material Sb₂Te₃ Nanowires to an Intermediate Resistance State by Microwave injection

Microwave (MW) induced resistance responses on Sb₂Te₃ nanowire (NW) samples were observed at about 3GHz in the MW frequency sweeps from 0 to 4GHz. The step-wise shifts in resistance occurred for varies samples with Ti/Au or Nb electrodes. The magnitude of electrical resistance change depended on the initial resistance of the NW samples and it appeared to be a crystalline transition into an intermediate state before changed to amorphous. Temperature dependences of NW samples at saturated resistance state of 10⁸Ω -10⁹Ω exhibited semiconductor property while pristine NW sample at 500 Ω range had metallic property.