 This behavior has been observed at the device level, however, it is believed to occur locally within small regions of the material. To better understand the mechanism behind this behavior, we used conductive atomic force microscopy, CAFM, to analyze the local properties of high-K materials. Our results suggest that the resistance switching behavior may be caused by the formation of defects in the material, such as vacancies in interstitial atoms, which are then responsible for the observed resistance change. This article was authored by Mario Lanza.