A low forming voltage NVM device is provided by forming a pair of sacrificial conductive pads on an interconnect dielectric material layer that embeds a pair of second electrically conductive structures and a patterned material stack. One of the sacrificial conductive pads has a first area and contacts a surface of one of the second electrically conductive structures that contacts a surface of an underlying first electrically conductive structure, and the other of the sacrificial conductive pads has a second area, different from the first area, and contacts a surface of another of the second electrically conductive structures that contacts a surface of a top electrode of the patterned material stack. A plasma treatment is performed to induce an antenna effect and to convert a dielectric switching material of the patterned material stack into a conductive filament. After plasma treatment, the pair of sacrificial conductive pads is removed.