Resistance switching and memory effects in solution-processed BiFeO3/LaNiO3 junctions

Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices are noticeable next generation memory devices. However, only few studies have been conducted regarding RRAM devices made of alloy. In this paper, we investigate the resistive switching behaviors of an Au/Ti/HfTiOx/p-Si memory device. The bipolar switching is characterized depending on compliance current under DC sweep mode. Good retention in the low-resistance state and high-resistance state is attained for nonvolatile memory and long-term memory in a synapse device. For practical switching operation, the pulse transient characteristics are studied for set and reset processes. Moreover, a synaptic weight change is achieved by a moderate pulse input for the potentiation and depression characteristics of the synaptic device. We reveal that the high-resistance state and low-resistance state are dominated by Schottky emissions.

Gd-doped-TiO2-based resistive switching random-access memory (RRAM) devices with MOM structure of top metal electrode (W, Ti)/Gd-doped-TiO2/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si were fabricated, and resistive switching characteristics were investigated. The W/Gd-doped-TiO2/Pt RRAM device showed typical unipolar resistive switching behavior irrespective of the bias polarity on the W top electrode. However, no unipolar switching was observed in the Ti/Gd-doped-TiO2/Pt devices when positive bias was applied on the Ti top electrode. A new resistive switching model was proposed to explain the unipolar switching behavior in the W/Gd-doped-TiO2/Pt RRAM device, based on the formation and destruction of conducting filaments which result from pinning and unpinning effects of surface trap states of oxide film on the Fermi level of metal electrode. The model clearly elucidates the mechanism of the low resistance state (LRS) and the high resistance state (HRS) as well as the switching behavior between LRS and HRS in the W/Gd-doped-TiO2/Pt RRAM device. The model also indicates the important role of the metal electrode material in unipolar resistive switching of oxide-based RRAM devices.

In this study, 10-nm rare-earth metal-oxide (REMO) films, namely, pure HoScO x (HSO) and HoScO x doped with Nb (HSO-Nb) and Zn (HSO-Zn), were deposited to build resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices with a Pt/REMO/Pt structure using radio frequency magnetron sputtering. The results of x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy showed that all as-deposited REMO films are featureless microstructures lacking long-range order. In all RRAM devices, layer structures were well adhered to each other with relatively smooth interfaces and no cracks or holes were observed. Hall measurements demonstrated n-type conduction in the as-deposited films. The addition of Nb and Zn increased carrier concentration and mobility of the HSO films and reduced electrical resistivity. The former was possibly caused by the electronic compensation of NbSc ··, thereby triggering the formation of polarons, and the latter was probably due to the increase in concentration of oxygen vacancies associated with acceptor doping. The RRAM devices revealed unipolar switching behavior characterized by a resistance ratio of more than three orders of magnitude, good endurance, and a long retention time. The switching behavior of the RRAM with amorphous HSO films was altered by the doping species. Doping with Nb and Zn decreased the forming voltage, facilitated the use of a smaller switching voltage, and increased the resistance ratio of high- and low-resistance states. The conduction mechanisms for the low resistive state and high resistive state were dominated by Ohmic conduction and trap-controlled space-charge-limited current mechanisms, respectively.

We report a study of light-activated resistance switching in silicon oxide (SiOx) resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices. Our devices had an indium tin oxide/SiOx/p-Si Metal/Oxide/Semiconductor structure, with resistance switching taking place in a 35 nm thick SiOx layer. The optical activity of the devices was investigated by characterising them in a range of voltage and light conditions. Devices respond to illumination at wavelengths in the range of 410–650 nm but are unresponsive at 1152 nm, suggesting that photons are absorbed by the bottom p-type silicon electrode and that generation of free carriers underpins optical activity. Applied light causes charging of devices in the high resistance state (HRS), photocurrent in the low resistance state (LRS), and lowering of the set voltage (required to go from the HRS to LRS) and can be used in conjunction with a voltage bias to trigger switching from the HRS to the LRS. We demonstrate negative correlation between set voltage and applied laser power using a 632.8 nm laser source. We propose that, under illumination, increased electron injection and hence a higher rate of creation of Frenkel pairs in the oxide—precursors for the formation of conductive oxygen vacancy filaments—reduce switching voltages. Our results open up the possibility of light-triggered RRAM devices.

Resistance switching characteristics, observed in metal oxide thin films, has recently attracted a great deal of attention to develop next generation low power, low cost, high speed, rugged and nonvolatile resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices. The memory effect in these materials is realized through the switching of the resistance of their thin films between two states of high and low resistances. Amongst the known metal oxides currently being explored for the development of RRAM, ZnO has been demonstrated to be a potential candidate. ZnO is an n‐type wide bandgap semiconductor and is highly transparent in the visible spectral region. Moreover its conductivity can be tailored in a broad range from metal like to insulator like by suitable impurity doping. Therefore it is possible to develop a fully transparent RRAM entirely based on ZnO. In this paper we report growth of a novel transparent RRAM devices based on ZnO and its variants. We studied the resistive switching characteristics of these devices and associated conduction mechanisms responsible for the switching. The details of this study will be presented in the paper (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

Recently, NiO film of metal-oxide-metal (MOM) structure 1a has drawn much attention because it shows reproducible resistance switching phenomena applicable to next generation nonvolatile resistive random access memory (ReRAM) device. The resistance switching phenomenon, that is, a drastic change in resistance between a high-resistance state (OFFstate) and low resistance state (ON-state) in current-voltage (I-V) characteristic of MOM structure, has been observed in binary oxides such as NiO, 1 TiO2, 2 Nb2O5, 3 Cr-doped SrZrO3, 4 Pr1-xCaMnO3, 5 and chalcogenide semiconductors although exact origin was unsolved. Among these materials, the binary oxide is the first consideration for the application due to the relatively simple fabrication process. In the case of a device fabrication, the self-limiting process of atomic layer deposition (ALD) may be very important for the growth of NiO films because the expected structure of ReRAM device requires the filling process of NiO on the hole or trench-patterned 3-dimensional substrates. Therefore, it is worthwhile to find the optimal ALD process for NiO film growth by using suitable Ni precursors. In general, most of Ni compounds are in solid state at room temperature although highly volatile liquid precursor is highly desirable to obtain conformal film qualities in ALD processes. A number of nickel precursors have been synthesized and examined for preparing Ni and NiO films using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) and ALD during the past years. The ligands for the nickel precursors are carbonyl, 6 β-diketonates, 7 cycolpentadienyl, 8 and alkoxides, 9 N,N'-dialkyl

In this study, we demonstrated the integration of black phosphorus (BP) nanoflakes in a resistive random access memory (RRAM) with a facile and complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible process. The solution-processed BP nanoflakes embedded in polystyrene (PS) as an active layer were sandwiched between aluminum electrodes (Al/BP:PS/Al). The device shows a figure of merit with typical bipolar behavior and forming-free characteristics as well as excellent memory performances such as nonvolatile, low operation voltage (1.75 V) and high ON/OFF ratio (>102) as well as the long retention time (>1500 s). The improved device performances were attributed to the formation of effective trap sites from the hybrid structure of the active layer (BP:PS), especially the BP nanoflakes and the partly oxidized species (PxOy). Moreover, the extrinsic aluminum oxide layer was observed after the device operation. The mechanism of switching behavior was further unveiled through the carrier transport models, which confirms the conductive mechanisms of space-charge-limited current and Ohmic conductance at high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state, respectively. Additionally, in the high electric field at HRS, the transfer curve was well fitted with the Poole–Frenkel emission model, which could be attributed to the formation of the aluminum oxide layer. Accordingly, both the trapping/de-trapping of carriers and the formation/rupture of conductive filaments were introduced as transport mechanisms in our devices. Although the partial PxOy species on BP were inevitable during the liquid phase exfoliation process, which was regarded as the disadvantages for various applications, it turns to a key point for improving performances in memory devices. The proposed approach to integrating BP nanoflakes in the active layer of the RRAM device could pave the way for next-generation memory devices.

The traditional von Neumann architecture limits the increase in computing efficiency and results in massive power consumption in modern computers due to the separation of storage and processing units. The novel neuromorphic computation system, an in-memory computing architecture with low power consumption, is aimed to break the bottleneck and meet the needs of the next generation of artificial intelligence (AI) systems. Thus, it is urgent to find a memory technology to implement the neuromorphic computing nanosystem. Nowadays, the silicon-based flash memory dominates non-volatile memory market, however, it is facing challenging issues to achieve the requirements of future data storage device development due to the drawbacks, such as scaling issue, relatively slow operation speed, and high voltage for program/erase operations. The emerging resistive random-access memory (RRAM) has prompted extensive research as its simple two-terminal structure, including top electrode (TE) layer, bottom electrode (BE) layer, and an intermediate resistive switching (RS) layer. It can utilize a temporary and reversible dielectric breakdown to cause the RS phenomenon between the high resistance state (HRS) and the low resistance state (LRS). RRAM is expected to outperform conventional memory device with the advantages, notably its low-voltage operation, short programming time, great cyclic stability, and good scalability. Among the materials for RS layer, indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) has shown attractive prospects in abundance and high atomic diffusion property of oxygen atoms, transparency. Additionally, its electrical properties can be easily modulated by controlling the stoichiometric ratio of indium and gallium as well as oxygen potential in the sputter gas. Moreover, since the IGZO can be applied to both the thin-film transistor (TFT) channel and RS layer, it has a great potential for fully integrated transparent electronics application.In this work, we proposed amorphous transparent IGZO-based RRAMs and investigated switching behaviors of the memory cells prepared with different top electrodes. First, ITO was choosing to serve as both TE and BE to achieve high transmittance. A multi-target magnetron sputtering system was employed to deposit all three layers (TE, RS, BE layers) on glass substrate. I-V characteristics were evaluated by a semiconductor parameter analyzer, and the bipolar RS feature of our RRAM devices was demonstrated by typical butterfly curves. The optical transmission analysis was carried out via a UV-Vis spectrometer and the average transmittance was around 80% out of entire devices in the visible-light wavelength range, implying high transparency. We adjusted the oxygen partial pressure during the sputtering of IGZO to optimize the property because the oxygen vacancy concentration governs the RS performance. Electrode selection is crucial and can impact the performance of the whole device. Thus, Cu TE was chosen for our second type of device because the diffusion of Cu ions can be beneficial for the formation of the conductive filament (CF). A ~5 nm SiO2 barrier layer was employed between TE and RS layers to confine the diffusion of Cu into the RS layer. At the same time, this SiO2 inserting layer can provide an additional interfacial series resistance in the device to lower the off current, consequently, improve the on/off ratio and whole performance. Finally, an oxygen affinity metal Ti was selected as the TE for our third type of device because the concentration of the oxygen atoms can be shifted towards the Ti electrode, which provides an oxygengettering activity near the Ti metal. This process may in turn lead to the formation of a sub-stoichiometric region in the neighboring oxide that is believed to be the origin of better performance.In conclusion, the transparent amorphous IGZO-based RRAMs were established. To tune the property of RS layer, the sputtering conditions of RS were varied. To investigate the influence of TE selections on switching performance of RRAMs, we integrated a set of TE materials, and a barrier layer on IGZO-based RRAM and compared the switch characteristics. Our encouraging results clearly demonstrate that IGZO is a promising material in RRAM applications and breaking the bottleneck of current memory technologies.

In this work, the resistive switching memory devices based on MgO thin film were fabricated and investigated. A forming electric field of about 2.36 MV/cm is required to induce bipolar resistive switching characteristic of the Pt/MgO/Pt metal-insulator-metal (MIM) diodes. At room temperature, the set and reset electric fields are about 1.5 MV/cm and −0.9 MV/cm, respectively. After the electroforming process, the resistance ratio of high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) is on the order of 105. The temperature dependence of current density-electric field (J-E) characteristics indicates that the dominant conduction mechanism is the hopping conduction and the Ohmic conduction in HRS and LRS, respectively. Accordingly, the hopping distance, trap energy level, and electron mobility in MgO films are obtained. In addition, the reliability characteristics of program/erase cycling endurance, data retention, and read durability of the MgO-based MIM memory devices were measured.

Polycrystalline LaCrO3 (LCO) thin films are deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrates by pulsed laser deposition and used as the switching material to construct resistive random access memory devices. The unipolar resistive switching (RS) behavior in the Au/LCO/Pt devices exhibits a high resistance ratio of ∼ 104 between the high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) and exhibits excellent endurance/retention characteristics. The conduction mechanism of the HRS in the high voltage range is dominated by the Schottky emission, while the Ohmic conduction dictates the LRS and the low voltage range of HRS. The RS behavior in the Au/LCO/Pt devices can be understood by the formation and rupture of conducting filaments consisting of oxygen vacancies, which is validated by the temperature dependence of resistance and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results. Further analysis shows that the reset current IR and reset power IR in the reset processes exhibit a scaling law with the resistance in LRS (R0), which indicates that the Joule heating effect plays an essential role in the RS behavior of the Au/LCO/Pt devices.

Resistive switching mechanism of zirconium oxide-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices composed of Cu-doped ZrO2 film sandwiched between an oxidizable electrode and an inert electrode was investigated. The Ag/ZrO2:Cu/Pt RRAM devices with crosspoint structure fabricated by e-beam evaporation and e-beam lithography show reproducible bipolar resistive switching. The linear I–V relationship of low resistance state (LRS) and the dependence of LRS resistance (RON) and reset current (Ireset) on the set current compliance (Icomp) indicate that the observed resistive switching characteristics of the Ag/ZrO2:Cu/Pt device should be ascribed to the formation and annihilation of localized conductive filaments (CFs). The physical origin of CF was further analyzed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). CFs were directly observed by cross-sectional TEM. According to EDS and elemental mapping analysis, the main chemical composition of CF is determined by Ag atoms, coming from the Ag top electrode. On the basis of these experiments, we propose that the set and reset process of the device stem from the electrochemical reactions in the zirconium oxide under different external electrical stimuli.

We demonstrate enhanced resistive switching (RS) stability, as measured by distribution, power consumption, and memory window, using different oxygen contents in a Ta oxide (TaOx) layer with a Pt top electrode and a TiN bottom electrode. The stability of the Pt/TaOx/TiN RRAM device increases as the oxygen contents of the TaOx layer increase. When oxygen is introduced during TaOx deposition, conventional bipolar RS (BRS) switches to self-compliant BRS, and distribution is improved within 200 repeated RS cycles. We investigate the conduction mechanisms for both a low resistance state (LRS) and a high resistance state (HRS). Ohmic conduction in the LRS and for the low bias region in the HRS corresponds to the conductive filament (CF) theory, while Poole–Frenkel (PF) conduction in the high bias region of HRS is the dominant conduction mechanism. A possible RS mechanism with oxygen ion drift is discussed.

All-inorganic perovskite quantum dots (QDs) have widely used in a lot of micro-nano photoelectric devices. However, resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices based on All-inorganic perovskite QDs are relatively scarce. In this work, a RRAM, which exhibits the write-once-read-many-times (WORM) memory effect, based on CsPbBr3 QDs was successfully fabricated by solution processed method at room temperature. The CsPbBr3 QDs based memory shows great reproducibility, good data retention ability, irreversible electrical transition from the high resistance state (HRS) or OFF state to the low resistance state (LRS) or ON state and the resistance ratio (ON/OFF) can reach almost 107. To study the CsPbBr3 QDs based WORM memory provides an opportunity to develop the next generation high-performance and stable WORM devices.

Resistive switching (RS) devices based on Nb:SrTiO3 (NSTO) hold significant potential for next-generation data storage due to their tunable resistance, stability, and low power consumption. The majority of existing research studies have predominantly focused on metal/NSTO structures that utilize single-crystal NSTO. Although this configuration exhibits superior performance, it is costly and cannot be easily integrated. Another important point is that epitaxial structures can enhance device stability because of their excellent interfaces. However, epitaxial growth of metals on NSTO poses significant challenges due to inherently high structural mismatches, which has led to inconsistent results reported by various researchers employing the same metal/NSTO structure. In this study, NSTO films with different Nb doping amounts were prepared on YBa2Cu3O[Formula: see text][Formula: see text] (YBCO) layers to form NSTO/YBCO heterostructures. YBCO serves as both the electrode and the epitaxial heterolayer material for NSTO. The photogenerated voltage and RS properties of epitaxially grown NSTO/YBCO structures were investigated in detail. At a low Nb doping amount, NSTO cannot produce sufficient photogenerated carriers, while excessive Nb doping results in a low interface barrier height, causing the photogenerated open-circuit voltage of the NSTO/YBCO structure to initially increase and then decrease with the increase in Nb doping amount (the peak value is observed at a Nb doping concentration of 1%). On the other hand, the electrical conductivity of NSTO increases with Nb doping, leading to an increase in the photogenerated short-circuit current. Further, the RS characteristics of the NSTO/YBCO structure were investigated, and clockwise and counterclockwise RS behaviors under low and high bias voltages were observed, respectively. At low voltages, the clockwise RS effect is primarily attributed to the increased interfacial barrier resulting from the migration of oxygen vacancies in YBCO. Conversely, at high voltages, the migration of oxygen ions within NSTO leads to a reduction in the interfacial barrier, thereby inducing a counterclockwise RS effect. In addition, at low bias voltages, the resistance ratio between the high-resistance state and the low-resistance state under [Formula: see text] 1/[Formula: see text] 2 V bias voltages first increases and then decreases as the Nb doping amount increases, with the highest resistance ratio (>100) observed at 1% Nb doping. These findings provide novel insights into the RS mechanism, and it is envisaged that they will promote the application of conductive oxides in RS devices and the development of multilevel memory devices.

A memory device with a Pt/SrBi2Ta2O9(SBT)/Pt(111) structure was shown to have excellent combined ferroelectricity and resistive switching properties, leading to higher multistate storage memory capacity in contrast to ferroelectric memory devices. In this device, SBT polycrystalline thin films with significant (115) orientation were fabricated on Pt(111)/Ti/SiO2/Si(100) substrates using CVD (chemical vapor deposition) method. Measurement results of the electric properties exhibit reproducible and reliable ferroelectricity switching behavior and bipolar resistive switching effects (BRS) without an electroforming process. The ON/OFF ratio of the resistive switching was found to be about 103. Switching mechanisms for the low resistance state (LRS) and high resistance state (HRS) currents are likely attributed to the Ohmic and space charge-limited current (SCLC) behavior, respectively. Moreover, the ferroelectricity and resistive switching effects were found to be mutually independent, and the four logic states were obtained by controlling the periodic sweeping voltage. This work holds great promise for nonvolatile multistate memory devices with high capacity and low cost.