Fig. 3: Temporal and spatial modification of the probe-induced IMT within WO₃ thin films.

a Modulated local conductivity with different scanning speeds during the probe-induced hydrogenation. The 16 pads shown here are prepared with one time of writing scan with varied scan rates from 19.5 to 0.67 Hz (from the top left to the bottom right), while the written voltage was fixed at 3 V. b Correlation between the scan rate and the local conductivity illustrated in a. The inset curve gives the equivalent switching time dependence of the local conducting currents, in which the equivalent time was calculated by the equation of \(\frac{{P}_{0}}{{f}_{0}}\times \frac{{S}_{{tip}}}{{S}_{{scan}}}\). P₀ is the number (128) of scan lines along the slow-scan direction, f₀ is the scan rate along the fast-scan direction, S_tip is the estimated contact area (~400 nm²) between the probe and sample surface and S_scan is the area of the pattern. c Formation of parallel arrays with 32 conducting wires. The lines were patterned with 3 V. d A portrait of Albert Einstein through probe-induced hydrogenation. (The original photo was taken by photographer Philipe Halsman; used with the permission of magnum/IC photo.) This image is lithographically patterned into WO₃ from a 0–3 V voltage template shown in the bottom left corner, and the image was encoded by the local current.