Mechanisms of current conduction in Pt/BaTiO3/Pt resistive switching cell

The 80-nm-thickness BaTiO₃ (BT) thin film was prepared on the Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrate by the RF magnetron sputtering technique. The Pt/BT/Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si structure was investigated using X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The current-voltage characteristic measurements were performed. The bipolar resistive switching behavior was found in the Pt/BT/Pt cell. The current-voltage curves were well fitted in different voltage regions at the high resistance state (HRS) and the low resistance state (LRS), respectively. The conduction mechanisms are concluded to be Ohmic conduction and Schottky emission at the LRS, while space-charge-limited conduction and Poole-Frenkel emission at the HRS. The electroforming and switching processes were explained in terms of the valence change mechanism, in which oxygen vacancies play a key role in forming conducting paths.     

Unipolar resistive switching behavior of BiFeO3 thin films prepared by chemical solution deposition

Bismuth ferrite (BiFeO₃, BFO) thin films were spin-coated on Pt/Ti/SiO₂/Si substrates by a chemical solution deposition method. The ferroelectric BFO films annealed at 500 °C and 550 °C were found to possess unipolar resistive switching behaviors. The resistance ratio of the high resistance state (HRS) to the low resistance state (LRS) of the unipolar resistance switching is about 10³ for the ferroelectric BFO films. The conduction mechanisms are concluded to be space charge-limited conduction for the initial state and Ohmic conduction for the LRS. As for the HRS, the Poole-Frenkel emission fits well in the whole voltage region. Traps composed of oxygen vacancies are considered to play a key role in forming conducting paths. The relaxation time of electronic carriers is much shorter than that of ionic oxygen vacancies; therefore, the resistance switching is considered more probably due to carrier injection and emission through the Poole-Frenkel model after forming.     

Complementary Resistive Switching Using Metal–Ferroelectric–Metal Tunnel Junctions

Complementary resistive switching (CRS) devices are receiving attention because they can potentially solve the current‐sneak and current‐leakage problems of memory arrays based on resistive switching (RS) elements. It is shown here that a simple anti‐serial connection of two ferroelectric tunnel junctions, based on BaTiO₃, with symmetric top metallic electrodes and a common, floating bottom nanometric film electrode, constitute a CRS memory element. It allows nonvolatile storage of binary states (“1” = “HRS+LRS” and “0” = “LRS+HRS”), where HRS (LRS) indicate the high (low) resistance state of each ferroelectric tunnel junction. Remarkably, these states have an identical and large resistance in the remanent state, characteristic of CRS. Here, protocols for writing information are reported and it is shown that non‐destructive or destructive reading schemes can be chosen by selecting the appropriate reading voltage amplitude. Moreover, this dual‐tunnel device has a significantly lower power consumption than a single ferroelectric tunnel junction to perform writing/reading functions, as is experimentally demonstrated. These findings illustrate that the recent impressive development of ferroelectric tunnel junctions can be further exploited to contribute to solving critical bottlenecks in data storage and logic functions implemented using RS elements.     

The Bipolar Resistive Switching in BiFeO3 Films

Pure-phase polycrystalline BiFeO₃ films have been successfully prepared by pulsed-laser deposition on surface oxidized Si substrates using LaNiO₃ buffer layer with substrate temperature (T _s) ranging from 550?°C to 800?°C and a laser frequency of 5?Hz and 10?Hz. Bipolar resistive switching has been observed in all the films using LaNiO₃ as bottom electrodes and silver glue dots as top electrodes, the resistivity switches from a high-resistance state (HRS) to a low-resistance state (LRS) with positive voltage applied on the top Ag electrodes, and from LRS to HRS with positive voltage applied on the bottom LaNiO₃ electrodes. The mechanism of the resistive switching has been confirmed to be due to the voltage polarity dependent formation/rupture of the conducting filaments formed by the O vacancies. The highest resistive ratio of HRS to LRS, of more than 2 orders of magnitude, has been achieved in the highest resistive BiFeO₃ film prepared at T _s of 650?°C and laser frequency of 10?Hz.     

Forming-Free Unipolar Resistive Switching in BiFe0.95Co0.05O3 Films

We report the forming-free unipolar resistive switching effects in polycrystalline BiFe_0.95Co_0.05O₃ films which were spin-coated on ITO/glass substrates by a chemical solution deposition method. The resistive ratio of the high resistive state (HRS) to the low resistive state (LRS) is more than 2 orders of magnitude. The conduction of the HRS is dominated by the space-charge-limited conduction mechanism, while Ohmic behavior dominates the LRS, which suggests a filamentary conduction mechanism. The oxygen vacancies are considered to play an important role in forming the conducting filaments.     

退火温度对TiO2基电阻开关器件性能的影响

采用直流磁控溅射法在n+-Si上制备了TiO2薄膜,采用电子束蒸发镀膜仪在TiO2薄膜上沉积Au电极,获得了Au/TiO2/n+-Si结构的器件.研究了退火温度对薄膜结晶性能及器件电阻开关特性的影响.Au/TiO2/n+-Si结构的器件具有单极性电阻开关特性,置位(set)电压,复位(reset)电压、reset电流及功率的大小随退火温度的不同而不同,并基于灯丝理论对器件的电阻开关效应的工作机理进行了探讨.研究结果表明,500℃退火的器件具有良好的非易失性.器件高低阻态的阻值比大于103,其信息保持特性可达10年之久.在读写次数为100次时,器件仍具有电阻开关效应.     

Influence of carrier injection on resistive switching of CaCu3Ti4O12 thin films with Ni electrode

The influence of electron injection on the electric-pulse-induced resistive switching of perovskite CaCu₃Ti₄O₁₂ (CCTO) films was studied by current-voltage (I-V) measurements. The electron injection was reduced by annealing the sample in an O₂ atmosphere. The switching from the high-resistance state HRS to the low-resistance state LRS by a filamentary mechanism was suppressed when the carrier injection occurs by Poole-Frenkel emission. The interfacial potential barrier plays a crucial role in determining the carrier injection.     

Low power and stable resistive switching in graphene oxide-based RRAM embedded with ZnO nanoparticles for nonvolatile memory applications

The present study reports the role of zinc oxide nanoparticles (ZnO NPs) embedded in graphene oxide (GO)-based RRAM for non-volatile memory applications. GO thin film embedded with different concentrations of ZnO NPs was deposited on bottom electrode, i.e., indium tin oxide (ITO) coated glass. Thermal evaporation technique was used for the fabrication of top electrodes for electrical measurements. Structural and morphological studies of synthesized GO and ZnO NPs were done by X-ray diffraction (XRD), atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Switching characteristics of the RRAM devices were investigated using electrical measurements. It has been observed that the optimized concentration of ZnO NPs (20%) shows stable switching behavior with low SET (??0.61 V) and RESET (+?0.65 V) voltages as compared to pure GO devices. The switching of the fabricated memory devices from high resistance state (HRS) to low resistance state (LRS) has been found due to conductive filament formed between top and bottom electrodes. This conductive filament has been confirmed by the change in resistance as a function of temperature. The Al/GO-ZnO(20%)/ITO devices show stable endurance behavior for >?50 cycles and retention behavior for >?4?×?10³ s. In HRS, the dominated conduction mechanism was found to be space-charge limited conduction (SCLC), whereas in LRS, the Ohmic conduction mechanism was observed. The incorporation of ZnO NPs increased the number of oxygen vacancies in switching layer which eventually enhanced the formation of conductive filament. This phenomenon has been confirmed using XPS characterization of the switching layer. These optimized concentrations of ZnO embedded in GO switching layers provide a way for future low power non-volatile memory devices.

     

Leakage mechanisms in rare-earth (La,Nd) doped Bi4Ti3O12 ferroelectric ceramics

Dense Bi₄Ti₃O₁₂ (BTO), Bi_3.15La_0.85Ti₃O₁₂ (BLaT) and Bi_3.15Nd_0.85Ti₃O₁₂ (BNdT) ferroelectric ceramics were synthesized by solid–state reaction method. All ceramics are orthorhombic bismuth-layered perovskite structure with plate-like grains of random orientation. The influences of La and Nd doping on the ferroelectric properties and leakage mechanism were investigated. The remanent polarizations (2P _r) were determined to be 13.4, 23.9 and 32.6 μC/cm² for BTO, BLaT, and BNdT, respectively. The leakage current density decreased markedly with La and Nd doping. The dominant leakage mechanism in both BTO and BLaT ceramics has been found to be the ohmic mechanism and the space-charge-limited current mechanism in the low and high electric field region, respectively. While in BNdT ceramics a quasi-ohmic behavior was found in the high electric field region, following the ohmic behavior in the low electric field region and trapped filled limited behavior in the intermediate electric field region.     

Rectifying resistance-switching behaviour of Ag/SBTO/STMO/$$\hbox {p}^{+}$$-Si heterostructure films

The \(\hbox {Sr}_{0.88}\hbox {Bi}_{0.12}\hbox {TiO}_{3}/\hbox {SrTi}_{0.92}\hbox {Mg}_{0.08}\hbox {O}_{3}\) (SBTO/STMO) heterostructure films were prepared on \(\hbox {p}^{+}\hbox {-Si}\) substrates by sol–gel spin-coating technique, and the films had good crystallinity and uniform grain distribution. The heterostructure films with a structure of Ag/SBTO/STMO/\(\hbox {p}^{+}\hbox {-Si}\) exhibited a bipolar, remarkable resistance-switching characteristic, and \(R_{\mathrm{HRS}}/R_{\mathrm{LRS}}\,\,{\sim }10^{4}\). More importantly, the heterostructure films showed rectifying characteristic in the low resistance state (LRS), and the rectification ratio can reach \(10^{2 }\) at \(\pm 1\hbox { V}\). The dominant resistive-switching conduction mechanism of high resistance state (HRS) was Ohmic behaviour, and the LRS changed to space charge-limited current (SCLC).     

Resistive switching characteristics of Cu/ZnO0.4S0.6/Al devices constructed on plastic substrates

In this study, Cu/ZnO0.4S0.6Al devices are fabricated on plastic substrates using the sputtering method at room temperature. The ratio of O/S in the zinc oxysulfide thin film is confirmed to be 0.4/0.6 from the Auger depth profiling. The Cu/ZnO0.4S0.6/Al devices show unipolar resistive switching behaviors and the ratio of the measured resistance in the low-resistance state (LRS) to that in the high-resistance state (HRS) is above 10(4). The conduction mechanism of the LRS is governed by Ohm's law. On the other hand, in the HRS, the conduction mechanism at low voltages is controlled by Ohm's law, but that at high voltages results from the Poole-Frenkel emission mechanism. The Ohmic and Poole-Frenkel conduction mechanisms observed in the LRS and HRS support the filament model of unipolar resistive switching. The memory characteristics of the Cu/ZnO0.4S0.6/Al devices are retained for 10(4) sec without any change.     

铋掺杂对SrTiO3薄膜微观结构及阻变行为的影响

采用溶胶-凝胶及快速退火工艺在p+-Si上制备了Bi掺杂SrTiO_3薄膜,构建了Ag/Sr_(1-x)Bi_xTiO_3/p+-Si结构阻变器件,研究了Bi掺杂量对薄膜微观结构、器件阻变行为及特性的影响。结果表明:Bi掺杂量较低时并未改变Sr_(1-x)Bi_xTiO_3薄膜的相结构,但随着掺杂比例的增大,晶粒尺寸也明显增大,当掺杂量x=0.16时,有Bi4SrTi4O15及TiO2相形成;不同Bi掺杂量的Ag/Sr_(1-x)Bi_xTiO_3/p+-Si器件均呈现出双极性阻变特性,且有明显的多级阻变行为。随Bi掺杂量的增加,器件的阻变性能逐步提高,当x=0.12时器件的高、低阻态电阻比值最大,达到105左右,并且在2 000次可逆循环测试下,高、低阻态电阻比未出现衰减,表现出良好的抗疲劳特性,但当掺杂量x达到或超过0.16后,器件的性能呈下降趋势。Bi掺杂量的增大会导致器件高阻态时的导电机制从空间电荷效应(SCLC)导电机制(x0.16)转变为肖特基势垒发射(x=0.16)。器件在低阻态下均遵循欧姆导电机制。     

Cu doping effect on the resistive switching behaviors of CoFe<Subscript>2</Subscript>O<Subscript>4</Subscript> thin films

Spin-coated Cu_xCo_1?xFe₂O₄ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8) thin films were prepared on Pt/TiO₂/SiO₂/Si substrates. Pt/Cu_xCo_1?xFe₂O₄/Pt structures were fabricated to investigate the effect of Cu doping concentration on the resistive switching behaviors. Structural and morphology characterizations revealed that Cu doping improved the crystallization of the thin films as compared to undoped CoFe₂O₄. Current–voltage characterization showed that all Cu_xCo_1?xFe₂O₄ thin films showed unipolar resistance switching, but the distribution range of the set voltage, reset voltage, and resistances were much reduced by Cu doping. Clear improvement in the stability of these parameters started to appear with x = 0.4, and the optimized performance was observed in the Pt/Cu_0.6Co_0.4Fe₂O₄/Pt structure. The improved stability of the switching parameters was attributed to the enhancement of hopping process between the Fe ions and the Cu ions in the spinel lattice. Our results indicated that appropriate adjustment of the doping elements in oxides can be a feasible approach in achieving stable resistance switching memory devices.     

Unipolar resistive switching characteristics in Co3O4 films

Unipolar resistive switching behavior has been investigated in Pt/Co₃O₄/Pt stacks. The resistance ratio of the high- and low- resistance states is over 5 × 10³. The “ON/OFF” operation of the memory cells can be repeated more than 200 times at room temperature. The resistance of the two states can be kept for more than 16 h without showing degradation. The temperature dependence of the resistance shows a metallic behavior at the low-resistance state, but a semiconductor-behavior at the high-resistance state. The mechanism responsible for the observed unipolar resistive switching behavior has been discussed.     

室温下制备非晶ZnO薄膜及其电阻开关特性研究

室温下采用紫外固化的方法取代溶胶-凝胶方法中的高温退火制备了氧化锌薄膜, XRD分析结果表明薄膜为非晶的, XPS分析结果表明薄膜的主要成分是ZnO。在深紫外固化后的薄膜表面溅射Al作为顶电极获得Al/a-ZnO/FTO结构的器件,研究深紫外照射时间对器件电阻转变性能的影响, 进一步解释了深紫外固化的机制。研究表明: 经过充足时间(12 h)照射的器件表现出双极性电阻开关特性,阈值电压分布集中(-3.7 V<V_set<-2.9 V, 3.4 V< V_reset<4.3 V)且符合低电压工作的要求, 至少在4000 s内器件的高低阻态都没有发生明显的退化, 表现出了良好的存储器特性。Al/a-ZnO/FTO器件的这种电阻转变特性可以用空间电荷限制电流传导机制解释。     

Effect of working pressure on the properties of BaTiO3-CoFe2O4 composite films deposited on STO (100) by PLD

The BaTiO₃-CoFe₂O₄ (BTO-CFO) composite films were grown on SrTiO₃ (STO) (100) substrates at 750 °C under various working pressures by pulsed laser deposition. The composite film grew into a supersaturated single phase at the working pressure of 10 mTorr, BTO and CFO (00 l) oriented hetero-epitaxial films on STO (100) at 100 mTorr, and a polycrystalline composite film at 500 mTorr. The slow growth rate at high working pressure led to the phase separation in the composite film. The CFO was compressively strained along out-of-plane due to the lattice mismatch with the BTO matrix phase. The BTO-CFO composite film grown at 100 mTorr showed reversible switching of ferroelectric polarization and magnetic hysteresis with strong magnetic anisotropy.     

Multi-Wavelength-Recognizable Memristive Devices via Surface Plasmon Resonance Effect for Color Visual System

Photoelectric memristor has attracted many attentions thanks to their promising potential in optical communication chips and artificial vision systems. However, the implementation of an artificial visual system based on memristive devices remains a considerable challenge because most photoelectric memristors cannot recognize color. Herein, multi-wavelength recognizable memristive devices based on silver(Ag) nanoparticles (NPs) and porous silicon oxide (SiO_x) nanocomposites are presented. Rely on the effects of localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) and optical excitation of Ag NPs in SiO_x, the set voltage of the device can be gradually reduced. Moreover, the current overshoot problem is alleviated to suppress conducting filament overgrowth after visible light irradiation with different wavelengths, resulting in diverse low resistance states (LRS). Taking advantage of the characteristics of controlled switching voltage and LRS resistance distribution, color image recognition is finally realized in the present work. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) show that the light irradiation plays an important role on resistive switching (RS) process: the photo-assisted Ag ionization leads to a significant reduction of set voltage and overshoot current. This work provides an effective method toward the development of multi-wavelength-recognizable memristive devices for future artificial color vision system.     

A comparative study regarding effects of interfacial ferroelectric Bi4Ti3O12 (BTO) layer on electrical characteristics of Au/n-Si structures

Present study focuses on the effects of interfacial ferroelectric BTO layer on the electrical characteristics of Au/n-Si structures, hence Au/n-Si (MS) and Au/BTO/n–Si (MFS) structures were fabricated and admittance measurements (capacitance–voltage: C–V and conductance–voltage: G/ω–V) of both structures were conducted between 10 kHz and 1 MHz at room temperature. Results showed that C–V and G/ω–V characteristics were affected not only by frequency but also through deposition of BTO layer. Some effects can be listed as sharper peaks in C–V plots, higher capacitance and conductance values. Structure’s series resistance (R _s) also decreased due to BTO layer. Interface states (N _ss) profiles of the structures were obtained using Hill–Coleman and high-low frequency capacitance (C _HF–C _LF). Some of the main electrical parameters were extracted from C ^?2–V plots using depletion capacitance approach. Furthermore, current–voltage characteristics of MS and MFS structures were presented.     

Reverse resistance switching in polycrystalline Nb2O5 films

The reverse resistance switching is observed in polycrystalline Nb₂O₅ film, which is one of promising candidates for nonvolatile resistance random access memory (ReRAM) devices. This reverse switching is compared with the usual behavior, in which the switching voltage V_LH from low resistance (LR) to high resistance (HR) states is lower than V_HL from HR to LR states. Based on these experiments, we propose a phenomenological mechanism for the resistance switching, which assumes the coexistence of LR and HR phases and the percolation transition.     

Reproducible unipolar resistive switching behaviors in the metal-deficient CoOx thin film

Pt/CoO_x/Pt tri-layers exhibited reproducible and stable unipolar switching under a dc sweeping voltage. In order to investigate the role of oxygen reduction in the metal-deficient CoO_x layer, resistive switching of the post-annealed CoO_x thin film was compared with those of the as-deposited CoO_x thin film. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy showed larger reproducible resistance switching and decreasing of current level in the post-annealed CoO_x thin film. This may be explained by a reduction in oxygen stoichiometry without phase transformation of the CoO_x. In addition, stable switching in post-annealed CoO_x layer is considered to originate from the decrease of the Co vacancies in local Co₃O₄ region partially distributed in the whole CoO_x layer, not in the dominant CoO.