Comparison between Pt/TiO2/Pt and Pt/TaOX/TaOY/Pt based bipolar resistive switching devices

Nonvolatile memories have emerged in recent years and have become a leading candidate towards replacing dynamic and static random-access memory devices. In this article, the performances of TiO₂ and TaO₂ nonvolatile memristive devices were compared and the factors that make TaO₂ memristive devices better than TiO₂ memristive devices were studied. TaO₂ memristive devices have shown better endurance performances (10⁸ times more switching cycles) and faster switching speed (5 times) than TiO₂ memristive devices. Electroforming of TaO₂ memristive devices requires~4.5 times less energy than TiO₂ memristive devices of a similar size. The retention period of TaO₂ memristive devices is expected to exceed 10 years with sufficient experimental evidence. In addition to comparing device performances, this article also explains the differences in physical device structure, switching mechanism, and resistance switching performances of TiO₂ and TaO₂ memristive devices. This article summarizes the reasons that give TaO₂ memristive devices the advantage over TiO₂ memristive devices, in terms of electroformation, switching speed, and endurance.