Impact of oxygen vacancies on the formation and structure of filaments in SiO$_2$-based memristors

The improvement of the parameters of the SiO$_2$-based memristor is found when creating displacement cascades in the near-surface layer of a silicon dioxide film by irradiation with Xe$^+$ ions. Molecular dynamic modeling of the structure of amorphous SiO$_2$ enriched with oxygen vacancies has shown the possibility of nucleation of silicon nanoclusters, which can play a significant role in the formation and evolution of current conducting paths (filaments) and thereby affect the parameters of the memristor.