Combining nonequilibrium Green's function technique with density functional theory, electron transport, and structural properties of an Ag atomic switch through Ag2S have been investigated. We have found that an Ag atomic conductance channel in Ag2S is generated after structure optimization, resulting in large enhancement of the electron transmission coefficient at the Fermi level and metallic behavior of the Ag-Ag2S-Ag system. Such spontaneous metallization at the Ag-Ag2S interface may play an important role in fast switching of the Ag-Ag2S atomic switch.

Using the density-functional theory combined with the nudged elastic band method, we have calculated migration pathways and estimated the activation energy barriers for the diffusion of Ag ions in low-temperature Ag2S. The activation energy barriers for four essential migrations for an Ag ion, namely, from a tetrahedral (T) site to an adjacent T vacancy (VT), from an octahedral (O) site to an adjacent O vacancy (VO), from T to VO, and from O to VT, are estimated as 0.461, 0.668, 0.212, and 0.318 eV, respectively, which are comparable to experimental values. This means that diffusions of Ag ions between nonequivalent sites are preferable to those between equivalent sites, and that direct T-VT and O-VO diffusions are less likely to occur than indirect T-VO-T and O-VT-O diffusions. These diffusion behaviors between nonequivalent sites have also been supported by ab initio molecular dynamics simulations, in which the diffusion pathways are directly observed.

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