Soft forming reversible resistivity-switching element for bipolar switching

A storage system, comprising:

• a non-volatile memory cell including a reversible resistivity-switching memory element;
• and
• one or more management circuits in communication with the memory cell, the one or more management circuits apply a first voltage to the memory cell to reduce the resistance of the reversible resistivity-switching memory element, the one or more management circuits apply a second voltage to the memory cell to further reduce the resistance of the reversible resistivity-switching element, the second voltage has the opposite polarity as the first voltage.

A method of operating non-volatile storage, the method comprising:

• applying one or more voltages having a first polarity to a memory cell having a reversible resistivity-switching memory element and a steering element in series with the reversible resistivity-switching memory element, applying the one or more voltages having a first polarity reduces the resistance of the reversible resistivity-switching memory element to partially form the reversible resistivity-switching memory element (502);
• and
• applying one or more voltages having a second polarity to the memory cell to further reduce the resistance of the reversible resistivity-switching element to fully form the reversible resistivity-switching memory element, the second polarity is opposite the first polarity.