Ovshinsky effect

[ ov-shin-skee, awv- ]

noun

1. an effect that turns special types of glassy, thin films into semiconductors upon application of low voltage.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Ovshinsky effect¹

First recorded in 1965–70; after Stanford R. Ovshinsky (1922–2012), U.S. physicist

Example Sentences

The result, in 1961, was what is now known as “the Ovshinsky effect”—an almost instantaneous and reversible switching between resistive and conducting states.

From Scientific American