Anomalous electrical switching behaviour in phase-separated bulk Ge-Se-Ag chalcogenide glasses

Bulk, Se-rich $Ge_{0.15}Se_{0.85-x}Ag_x (0 \le \times\le 0.20)$ glasses show anomalous electrical switching behaviour which is attributed to difference in the thermal conductivities of $Ag_2S_e$ inclusions and GeSe base glass. The present results also show that there is a sharp drop in switching voltage with silver addition, which is due to the higher metallicity of silver and the presence of $Ag^+$ ions. Further, the leveling of threshold voltage $(V_T)$ around x = 0.10, is associated with the percolation of $Ag_2S_e$ phase in the Ge-Se matrix