Structural and memristive properties of layered Cu/PPX–PbTe/ITO samples based on parylene (poly-p-xylylene, PPX) with PbTe nanoparticles were studied. An unusual effect of light on the nature of resistive switching (RS) was discovered: in the high-resistance state the memristor conductivity increases under illumination, whereas in the low-resistance state negative photoconductivity (i.e., a noticeable decrease) is observed during cyclic RS. A qualitative model, that describes the switching mechanism under optical excitation and in its absence, is proposed. The characteristics of RS and the possibility of controlling them using illumination demonstrate the possibility of using hybrid PPX-memristors as sensory and synaptic elements in the development of neuromorphic computer vision systems.
Trofimov et al. (2025) studied this question.