Control of filament size and reduction of reset current below 10 μA in NiO resistance switching memories

Resistive-switching memory (RRAM) is receiving a growing deal of research interest as a possible solution for high-density, 3D nonvolatile memory technology. One of the main obstacle toward size reduction of the memory cell and its scaling is the typically large current I_reset needed for the reset operation. In fact, a large I_reset negatively impacts the scaling possibilities of the select diode in a cross-bar array structure. Reducing I_reset is therefore mandatory for the development of high-density RRAM arrays. This work addresses the reduction of I_reset in NiO-based RRAM by control of the filament size in 1 transistor-1 resistor (1T1R) cell devices. I_reset is demonstrated to be scalable and controllable below 10 μA. The significance of these results for the future scaling of diode-selected cross-bar arrays is finally discussed.