The resistive switching characteristic of SiO_2 thin film in electrolyte-oxide-semiconductor(EOS) structures under certain bias voltage is reported.To analyze the mechanism of the resistive switching characteristic,a batch of EOS structures were fabricated under various conditions and their electrical properties were measured with a set of three-electrode systems.A theoretical model based on the formation and rupture of conductive filaments in the oxide layer is proposed to reveal the mechanism of the resistive switching characteristic,followed by an experimental investigation of Auger electron spectroscopy(AES) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy(SIMS) to verify the proposed theoretical model.It is found that different threshold voltage,reverse leakage current and slope value features of the switching I-V characteristic can be observed in different EOS structures with different electrolyte solutions as well as different SiO_2 layers made by different fabrication processes or in different thicknesses.With a simple fabrication process and significant resistive switching characteristic,the EOS structures show great potential for chemical/biochemical applications. The resistive switching characteristic of SiO 2 thin film in electrolyte-oxide-semiconductor (EOS) structures under certain bias voltage is reported. To analyze the mechanism of the resistive switching characteristic, a batch of EOS structures were fabricated under various conditions and their electrical properties were A theoretical model based on the formation and rupture of conductive filaments in the oxide layer is proposed to reveal the mechanism of the resistive switching characteristic, followed by an experimental investigation of Auger electron spectroscopy (AES) and secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) to verify the proposed theoretical model. It is found that the different threshold voltage, reverse leakage current and slope value features of the switching IV characteristic can be observed in different EOS structures with different electrolyte solutions as well as different SiO_2 made by different fabrication processes or in differ ent thicknesses. W a a simple fabrication process and significant resistive switching characteristic, the EOS structures show great potential for chemical / biochemical applications.