Thomas Günkel1,2, Aleix Barrera1, Lluís Balcells1, Narcís Mestres1,
Enrique Miranda2, Anna Palau1, Jordi Suñé2
SPICE-Compatible Compact Modeling of Cuprate-Based Memristors Across
a Wide Temperature Range
Advanced Electronic Materials (2026): e00861
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.202500861
1 Institut de Ciència de Materials de Barcelona, ICMAB-CSIC, Bellaterra (SP)
2 Departament d’Enginyeria Electrònica, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (SP)
ABSTRACT: Cryogenic memristors based on the high-temperature superconductor YBa2 CuO7−δ offer significant potential as nonvolatile memory elements or unit cell for analog artificial neural networks for future applications such as control units for quantum processors, cryogenic data centers or space-related electronics. In this work, the experimental switching capabilities of cuprate-based memristors are analyzed in terms of the material-specific physics. This work investigates the experimental switching behavior of cuprate-based memristors across temperatures from cryogenic to room temperature. The underlying interpretation, namely the trapping of injected charge carriers at a metal interface and field-induced detrapping, is incorporated into a physically inspired compact model. The core equations of this model consist of a differential balance equation and a current equation, which is derived from space-charge limited conduction. Comparison with experimental data shows that the model successfully reproduces the key features of the measured switching behavior across a wide temperature range, spanning from 80 to 300 K. Additionally, we implement the model in SPICE, enabling circuit-level simulations. The resulting compact model provides a useful framework for guiding experimental studies, capturing key features of the switching behavior, and bridging the gap between device-levelcharacterization and circuit-level design.
FIG: LTspice Simulations: (a) Implementation of the compact model into a LTspice schematic. The diagram is explained in more detail in the main text. Simulation results of the hysteron V(r) and the 𝐼𝑉 -characteristics abs(I(B2)) depending on the input signal V(v) are given for a simple sinusoidal input signal in (b) and a damped waveform in (c).
Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation MCIN/ AEI /10.13039/501100011033/ through CHIST-ERA PCI2021-122028-2A co-financed by the European Union Next Generation EU/PRTR, the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence CEX2023-001263-S, HTSUPERFUN PID2021-124680OB-I00,and HTS-4ICT PID2024-156025OB-I00, co-financed by ERDF A way of making Europe. The Spanish Nanolito networking project (RED2022-134096-T). The European COST Action SUPERQUMAP (CA 21144). EMand JS would like to thank the support the Spanish Ministerio deCiencia e Innovación (MCIN) / Agencia Española de investigación (AEI)10.13039/501100011 033 (Under project No. PID2022-139586NB-C41). TG acknowledge support from AGAUR Catalan Government Predoctoral Fellowship (2022 FISDU 00115). J.S. and E. M. acknowledge the support of the EU through the HORIZON Chips-JU 101194172 NeAIxt Project and the Agencia Española de Investigación (AEI)/10.13039/501100011033 under Project PCI2025-163216. The authors acknowledge the Scientific Servicesat ICMAB and the UAB PhD program in Materials Science.
