Coexistence of nonvolatile unipolar and volatile threshold resistive switching in the Pt/LaMnO3/Pt heterostructures

Coexistence of nonvolatile unipolar and volatile threshold resistive switching is observed in the Pt/LaMnO₃ (LMO)/Pt heterostructures. The nonvolatile unipolar memory is achieved by applying a negative bias, while the volatile threshold resistive switching is obtained under a positive bias. Additionally, the pristine low resistance state (LRS) could be switched to high resistance state (HRS) by the positive voltage sweeping, which is attributed to the conduction mechanism of Schottky emission. Subsequently, the insulator-to-metal transition in the LMO film due to formation of ferromagnetic metallic phase domain contributes to the volatile threshold resistive switching. However, the nonvolatile unipolar switching under the negative bias is ascribed to the formation/rupture of oxygen-vacancy conducting filaments. The simultaneously controllable transition between nonvolatile and volatile resistance switching by the polarity of the applied voltage exhibits great significance in the applications of in-memory computing technology.     

有机发光器件的磁电导效应

制备了基于三(8-羟基喹啉)铝(tris-(8-hydroxyquinoline) aluminum (III), Alq₃) 的有机发光二极管, 并在不同偏压下测量了器件的室温磁电导效应.在小偏压下, 发光器件展示出明显的负磁电导效应.偏压增加后, 磁电导由负值变为正值, 出现了正负转变的现象. N, N'-二苯基-N, N'-(1-萘基)-1, 1'-联苯-4, 4'-二胺(N, N′-Di(naphthalen-1-yl)-N, N′ diphenyl-benzidine, NPB) 与铜酞菁 (Copper phthalocyanine, CuPc) 单极器件磁电导的测量结果表明, 发光器件在小偏压下的负磁电导效应来源于器件中的CuPc层. 双极电流的磁电导效应可用电子-空穴对模型进行解释, 而单极电流的磁电导效应可归因于器件中的极化子-双极化子转变. 在注入电流的变化过程中, 发光器件的正负磁电导转变是两种机理共同作用的结果.     

Bipolar Resistive Switching in Epitaxial Mn_3O_4 Thin Films on Nb-Doped SrTiO_3 Substrates

Spinel(001)-orientated Mn_3O_4 thin films on Nb-doped SrTiO_3(001) substrates are fabricated via the pulsed laser deposition method.X-ray diffraction and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy indicate that the as-prepared epitaxial film is well crystallized.In the film plane the orientation relationship between the film and the substrate is[100]Mn_3O_4\\[110]Nb-doped SrTiO_3.After an electroforming process,the film shows bipolar nonvolatile resistance switching behavior.The positive voltage bias drives the sample into a low resistance state,while the negative voltage switches it back to a high resistance state.The switching polarity is different from the previous studies.The complex impedance measurement suggests that the resistance switching behavior is of filament type.Due to the performance reproducibility and state stability,Mn_3O_4 might be a promising candidate for the resistive random access memory devices.     

Intrinsic memory characteristic of polycrystalline ZnTe film originating from Mott variable range hopping conduction

The resistive switching characteristics of Au/ZnTe/ITO structure with polycrystalline ZnTe film as resistive switching layer is investigated. Macroscopically, 100 bipolar switching cycles under the direct current (dc) voltages were carried out and the conduction states can retain for several hours. Microscopically, reading and writing operations can be achieved on ZnTe film with Au top electrode replaced by conductive Atomic Force Microscopy (c-AFM) tip. The I–V characteristic in low resistance state (LRS) is linear in the whole range of voltage. The I–V characteristic in high resistance state (HRS) is linear in the low voltage while it obeys Schottky emission in the high voltage, and Schottky barrier height is symmetric in the positive and negative voltage. During linear I–V characteristic voltage range, the electrons transport between adjacent point defects via Mott variable range hopping. The higher hopping distance and higher activation energy in HRS contribute to the higher resistance value in HRS compared with LRS. Impedance spectroscopy in HRS and LRS both behave as a semicircle, which accords with the semiconductor-like characteristic of conductive point defects. Photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy indicates the decisive role of deep level defects in conduction. This study confirms the intrinsic resistive switching characteristic of ZnTe film and provides a new choice for intrinsic non-oxides material in nonvolatile memory application.     

Thickness dependence of the resistive switching behavior of nonvolatile memory device structures based on undoped ZnO films

The resistive switching behavior of Al/ZnO/Al layered memory device structures was investigated in connection with varying ZnO layer thickness and related changes in crystallinity and concentration of oxygen-related defects. It was observed that, with increasing thickness, the crystallinity of the ZnO layer was improved and the concentration of oxygen-related defects within the layer increased. While the device showed unipolar switching characteristics, the current-voltage hysteresis was dependent on the thickness of the ZnO layer. In particular, the set voltage gradually increased with increasing layer thickness in the high resistive state whereas the reset voltage remained almost constant in the low resistive state. The observed operation characteristics of the device structures in relation to the crystallinity and oxygen-related defect concentration of the ZnO layer suggest that extended defects such as grain boundaries and dislocations play important roles in determining device performances.     

Enhanced resistance switching stability of transparent ITO/TiO2/ITO sandwiches

We report that fully transparent resistive random access memory(TRRAM) devices based on ITO/TiO2/ITO sandwich structure,which are prepared by the method of RF magnetron sputtering,exhibit excellent switching stability.In the visible region(400-800 nm in wavelength) the TRRAM device has a transmittance of more than 80%.The fabricated TRRAM device shows a bipolar resistance switching behaviour at low voltage,while the retention test and rewrite cycles of more than 300,000 indicate the enhancement of switching capability.The mechanism of resistance switching is further explained by the forming and rupture processes of the filament in the TiO 2 layer with the help of more oxygen vacancies which are provided by the transparent ITO electrodes.     

下电极对ZnO薄膜电阻开关特性的影响

本文采用直流磁控溅射法在三种不同的下电极(BEs)上制备了ZnO薄膜, 获得了W/ZnO/BEs存储器结构. 研究了不同的下电极材料对器件电阻开关特性的影响. 研究结果表明, 以不同下电极所制备的器件都具有单极性电阻开关特性. 在低阻态时, ZnO薄膜的导电机理为欧姆传导, 而高阻态时薄膜的导电机理为空间电荷限制电流. 不同下电极与ZnO薄膜之间的肖特基势垒高度对电阻开关过程中的操作电压有较大的影响, 并基于导电细丝模型对不同下电极上ZnO薄膜的低阻态阻值及reset电流的变化进行了解释. 关键词： ZnO薄膜 电阻开关 下电极     

Resistive switching effect in metal–oxide–metal structures with ZnO:Li oxide layer

The resistive switching effect in metal–oxide–metal (MOM) structures has been investigated, where the 10% Li-doped ZnO layer was used as an oxide layer, as well as Pt and 20% fluorine doped SnO₂ (SnO₂:F) were used as a bottom electrodes. The current–voltage (I–V) and switching (I–t) characteristics of Ag/ZnO:Li/Pt and Ag/ZnO:Li/SnO₂:F structures were investigated. The unipolar resistive switching is detected in the structures with the Pt, while the use of transparent conductive SnO₂:F electrode instead of Pt, results to the bipolar memory effect.     

Effect of cation and anion defects on the resistive switching polarity of ZnO x thin films

In this paper, we achieve the resistive switching (RS) polarity from unipolar to bipolar in a simple Al/ZnO _x /Al structure by moderating the oxygen content in the ZnO sputtering process. In a pure Ar sputtering, Al/ZnO _x /Al shows unipolar behavior, as oxygen partial pressure increases, the RS polarity changes to bipolar, and the switch current decreases by about five orders of magnitude. The current transport properties of unipolar device show ohmic behavior under both high resistance (HRS) and low resistance states (LRS), but the bipolar device shows Schottky barrier modulated current transport properties. We study the defect types in the unipolar and bipolar devices through photoluminescence (PL) spectra. The PL results show that the interstitial zinc (Zn_i) and interstitial oxygen (O_i) are dominant in unipolar and bipolar devices, respectively. We attribute this phenomenon to Zn_i and O_i playing important role in unipolar (URS) and bipolar resistive switching (BRS), respectively.     

Coexistence of unipolar and bipolar modes in Ag/ZnO/Pt resistive switching memory with oxygen-vacancy and metal-Ag filaments

In this study, the unipolar resistive switching(URS) and bipolar resistive switching(BRS) are demonstrated to be coexistent in the Ag/Zn O/Pt memory device, and both modes are observed to strongly depend on the polarity of forming voltage. The mechanisms of the URS and BRS behaviors could be attributed to the electric-field-induced migration of oxygen vacancies(VO) and metal-Ag conducting filaments(CFs) respectively, which are confirmed by investigating the temperature dependences of low resistance states in both modes. Furthermore, we compare the resistive switching(RS)characteristics(e.g., forming and switching voltages, reset current and resistance states) between these two modes based on VO- and Ag-CFs. The BRS mode shows better switching uniformity and lower power than the URS mode. Both of these modes exhibit good RS performances, including good retention, reliable cycling and high-speed switching. The result indicates that the coexistence of URS and BRS behaviors in a single device has great potential applications in future nonvolatile multi-level memory.     

Nonvolatile Resistive Switching and Physical Mechanism in LaCrO_3 Thin Films

Polycrystalline LaCrO_3(LCO) thin films are deposited on Pt/Ti/SiO_2/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 I_R and reset power P_R in the reset processes exhibit a scaling law with the resistance in LRS(R_0), which indicates that the Joule heating effect plays an essential role in the RS behavior of the Au/LCO/Pt devices.     

Thermochemical resistive switching: materials,mechanisms, and scaling projections

In this article, resistive switching based on the thermochemical mechanism (TCM) is reviewed. This mechanism is observed when thermochemical redox processes dominate over electrochemical processes. As the switching is based on thermal effects, it is inherently unipolar, i.e., the transitions between the resistive states can be induced by the same bias voltage polarity. NiO has emerged as a “model material” for resistive switching based on the TCM effect and the discussion of the resistance states and the switching processes are focused on this material with the appropriate electrodes, mainly Pt. Unipolar switching is unambiguously filamentary. Conductive filaments are formed during the electroforming process needed prior to memory switching. The SET operation is interpreted as a sequence of threshold switching and subsequent Joule heating which triggers local redox reactions in which oxygen deficient NiO and, if the amount of released oxygen exceeds a certain amount, also metallic Ni will form. The RESET transition can be described as a thermally activated solid-state process resulting in a local decrease of the metallic Ni species. In terms of operation and reliability, a trade-off between RESET current reduction and retention was experimentally found. This is due to the decreasing long-term stability of the filaments with decreasing size. In addition, the scaling projection of a TCM-based memory technology with NiO is directly related to RESET currents and the availability of appropriate select devices.     

Effect of buffer layers on performance of organic photovoltaic devices based on copper phthalocyanine-perylene dye heterojunction

The work presents the results of research on the systems formed from thin films of copper phthalocyanine (CuPc), N-N′-dimethylperylene-3,4,9,10-dicarboximide (MePTCDI), electrodes of ITO and Ag, and from buffer layers: MoO₃ at ITO and BCP at Ag. We have observed the effect of each buffer layer on voltage dependence of dark current and photocurrent, and on open circuit voltage-light intensity relationship. The system with both buffer layers exhibited the highest values of open circuit voltage and fill factor. The buffer layers improve transport of charge carriers within near-electrode regions, reduce dissociation of excitons on electrodes and reveal processes of charge carrier generation and recombination within the CuPc/MePTCDI junction.     

Current fluctuations in polystyrene nano-compounds

The current fluctuations in a polystyrene matrix (PS) doped by gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs) and small conjugated molecules of 8-hydroxyquinoline (8HQ) have been characterized. The electrical properties of the PS composite allow using it as a responsive layer in non-volatile memory devices due to its switching capability between two well separated conducting states. The analysis of current fluctuations at fixed bias voltages showed the presence of two states in charge carrier transport regardless of the operating conducting state of the device. Moreover, noise spectra have been investigated in the low frequency region, allowing the estimation of charge relaxation times between current levels in the two memory states. The presence of these slow and large fluctuations can seriously affect the final electrical performances of this class of nanostructured memories.     

Impact of amorphous titanium oxide film on the device stability of Al/TiO2/Al resistive memory

We have investigated the role of amorphous titanium oxide film in the reliable bipolar resistive switching of Al/TiO₂/Al resistive random access memory devices. As TiO₂ deposition temperature decreased, a more stable endurance characteristic was obtained. We proposed that the degradation of the bipolar resistive switching property of Al/TiO₂/Al devices is closely related to the imperfect migration of oxygen ions between the top insulating interface layer and the oxygen-deficient titanium oxide during the set and reset operations. In addition, the dependence of the TiO₂ film thickness on the switching property was also studied. As the thickness of the film increased, a reduction in the resistance of the high resistance state rapidly appeared. We attribute the improved endurance performance of thin and low-temperature grown TiO₂ devices to the amorphous state with a low film density.     

Conduction in magnesium phthalocyanine thin films with aluminium electrodes

The various electrical properties and the nature of conduction mechanisms of magnesium phthalocyanine thin film devices with top and bottom aluminium electrodes have been investigated. The conduction mechanism was identified as injection limited essentially due to the electrode material. Even with the same electrode materials, the device showed asymmetric conduction behavior in the forward and reverse bias. In general the conduction was interpreted as a Schottky emission with barrier height Φ_s=1.07 eV for the forward bias and Φ_s=1.09 eV in the reverse bias. The effect of oxygen on the conductivity of the device has also been investigated. In the oxygen doped samples the conductivity is decreased which may be attributed to an interfacial layer between the electrode and the organic layer. Further in the oxygen doped sample while a Schottky emission is observed at lower voltages Poole-Frenkel conductivity was identified in the higher voltage region.     

Multiple modes of perpendicular magnetization switching scheme in single spin—orbit torque device

Spin—orbit torque (SOT) has been considered as one of the promising technologies for the next-generation magnetic random access memory (MRAM). So far, SOT has been widely utilized for inducing various modes of magnetization switching. However, it is a challenge that so many multiple modes of magnetization switching are integrated together. Here we propose a method of implementing both unipolar switching and bipolar switching of the perpendicular magnetization within a single SOT device. The mode of switching can be easily changed by tuning the amplitude of the applied current. We show that the field-like torque plays an important role in switching process. The field-like torque induces the precession of the magnetization in the case of unipolar switching, however, the field-like torque helps to generate an effective z-component torque in the case of bipolar switching. In addition, the influence of key parameters on the mode of switching is discussed, including the field-like torque strength, the bias field, and the current density. Our proposal can be used to design novel reconfigurable logic circuits in the near future.     

Resistive switching in Ag–TiO2 contacts

We study the electric pulse induced resistance switching of TiO₂–Ag contacts at room temperature, exploring both unipolar and bipolar switching modes. Initially we observed unipolar response. After hundred pulsing cycles the unipolar switching response vanishes but the device can still be operated in bipolar switching regime. The underlying mechanism for resistance switching is modeled in terms of formation and rupture of filament, and movement of oxygen vacancies.     

Characteristics of the bipolar resistive switching behavior in memory device with Au/ZnO/ITO structure

In this work, reproducible and stable bipolar resistive switching behavior without the requirement of forming process is observed in the memory device with Au/ZnO/ITO structure. It shows a high R_on/R_off ratio, where R_on and R_off are the resistance at low resistance state (LRS) and high resistance state (HRS), respectively. The dominated transport mechanisms for LRS and HRS are related to space charge limited current and Ohmic behavior, respectively. This bipolar resistive behavior is attributed to the formation and rupture of conducting filaments which are constructed with oxygen vacancies. The Au/ZnO/ITO device discussed in this work shows huge potential applications in the next generation nonvolatile memory field.     

Resistance switching properties of In2O3 nanocrystals memory device with organic and inorganic hybrid structure

A memory device with In₂O₃ nanocrystals embedded in a biphenyl-tertracarboxylic dianhydride-phenylen diamine (BPDA-PDA) polyimide layer on a ZnO layer was fabricated, and its electrical properties were evaluated. Then, the transmittance efficiency in the structure of the BPDA-PDA polyimide/In₂O₃ nanocrystals/ZnO/ITO/double polishing sapphire substrate was measured to be about 80% between 440 to 800 nm by ultraviolet-visible transmittance spectroscopy. A bipolar switching current bistability by difference resistance appeared in the sweep voltage rage from −7 to 7 V. It was considered that the bipolar behavior of current-voltage may originate from a resistance fluctuation because of the electron charging effect in In₂O₃ nanocrystals by voltage sweeping, Fowler–Nordheim tunneling, space-charge-limited current, and the migration of O²⁻ ions.