Optically Tunable Threshold Switching and Thermally Activated Transport in Planar Ag/MAPbI$_3$ Thin Single-Crystal Devices

Abstract

Halide perovskites have enabled major advances in optoelectronics, extending well beyond photovoltaics. Their mixed ionic-electronic conduction, once regarded as detrimental to device stability, is increasingly viewed as a functional degree of freedom for memory and neuromorphic-inspired devices, especially when coupled to external stimuli such as light. Specifically, single crystals are attractive models because they suppress grain-boundary effects and microstructural disorder that can mask intrinsic transport and interfacial mechanisms in polycrystalline films. Here, we report the growth of thin methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI$_3$) single crystals by a space-confined method and their integration into planar two-terminal devices with directly deposited Ag contacts. At room temperature, the devices exhibit ultra-low dark currents ($10^{-13}-10^{-12}$ A) and negligible hysteresis in the dark. Under illumination, the current increases due to photogeneration and the I-V characteristics develop a pronounced polarity-dependent hysteresis and a threshold-like transition between two conductance states. Temperature-dependent dark measurements (300-400 K) show thermionically activated, contact-influenced transport and a weakly varying normalized hysteresis metric. Together with the back-to-back Schottky-diode analysis and control devices using more inert contact materials, these results support a transport model in which Ag/perovskite interfaces play a central role and the hysteretic response is influenced by coupled interfacial and ionic processes.