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.     

Transparent conducting indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film as full front electrode in III-V compound solar cell

The application of transparent conducting indium-tin-oxide (ITO) film as full front electrode replacing the conventional bus-bar metal electrode in III-V compound GaInP solar cell was proposed. A high-quality, non-rectifying contact between ITO and 10 nm N⁺-GaAs contact layer was formed, which is benefiting from a high carrier concentration of the terrilium-doped N⁺-GaAs layer, up to 2×10¹⁹ cm^-3. A good device performance of the GaInP solar cell with the ITO electrode was observed. This result indicates a great potential of transparent conducting films in the future fabrication of larger area flexible III-V solar cell.     

Dependence of intermediated noble metals on the optical and electrical properties of ITO/metal/ITO multilayers

Sn doped In₂O₃ (ITO) single layer and a sandwich structure of ITO/metal/ITO (IMI) multilayer films were deposited on a polycarbonate substrate using radio-frequency and direct-current magnetron sputtering process without substrate heating. The intermediated metal films in the IMI structure were Au and Cu films and the thickness of each layer in the IMI films was kept constant at 50 nm/10 nm/40 nm. In this study, the ITO/Au/ITO films show the lowest resistivity of 5.6 × 10⁻⁵ Ω cm.However the films show the lower optical transmission of 71% at 550 nm than that (81%) of as deposited ITO films. The ITO/Cu/ITO films show an optical transmittance of 54% and electrical resistivity of 1.5 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm. Only the ITO/Au/ITO films showed the diffraction peaks in the XRD pattern. The figure of merit indicated that the ITO/Au/ITO films performed better in a transparent conducting electrode than in ITO single layer films and ITO/Cu/ITO films.     

Resistive switching behavior and mechanism of room-temperature-fabricated flexible Al/TiS2-PVP/ITO/PET memory devices

The mixture of two-dimensional (2D) TiS₂ nanoflakes and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) exhibits a nonvolatile, bipolar resistive switching behavior with a low resistance state (LRS)/high resistance state (HRS) current ratio of ～10² in the devices with a flexible Al/TiS₂-PVP/indium tin oxide (ITO)/polyethylene terephthalate (PET) structure. The polymer-assistant liquid-phase exfoliation of 2D nanoflakes from TiS₂ bulk material is processed in low-boiling solvent. And the fabrication process of these devices is performed entirely at room temperature. Such an energy-saving and scalable production process indicates a huge potential of large-scale industrial application. The AFM and TEM characterizations showed that the exfoliated 2D TiS₂ are flakes at micrometer scale with a layer-number of mostly 7 or 8. Both the HRS and the LRS can be kept for more than 10⁴ s. The endurance of devices was obtained over 100 direct current (DC) sweeping cycles with remarkable separations between different resistive states. The distributions of writing (set) and erasing (reset) voltages show that set and reset voltages are small (<2 V). Also, the resistive switching characteristics of the devices are stable during 1000 bending cycles. The switching behavior is explained by the thinning and recovery of Schottky barriers within devices.     

Low temperature deposition of transparent conducting ITO/Au/ITO films by reactive magnetron sputtering

Transparent conducting indium tin oxide/Au/indium tin oxide (ITO) multilayered films were deposited on unheated polycarbonate substrates by magnetron sputtering. The thickness of the Au intermediated film varied from 5 to 20 nm. Changes in the microstructure, surface roughness and optoelectrical properties of the ITO/Au/ITO films were investigated with respect to the thickness of the Au intermediated layer. X-ray diffraction measurements of ITO single layer films did not show characteristic diffraction peaks, while ITO/Au/ITO films showed an In₂O₃ (2 2 2) characteristic diffraction peak. The optoelectrical properties of the films were also dependent on the presence and thickness of the Au thin film. The ITO 50 nm/Au 10 nm/ITO 40 nm films had a sheet resistance of 5.6 Ω/□ and an average optical transmittance of 72% in the visible wavelength range of 400-700 nm. Consequently, the crystallinity, which affects the optoelectrical properties of ITO films, can be enhanced with Au intermediated films.     

Characteristic difference between ITO/ZrCu and ITO/Ag bi-layer films as transparent electrodes deposited on PET substrate

The metallic-glass film of ZrCu layer deposited by co-sputtering was utilized as the metallic layer in the bi-layer structure transparent conductive electrode of ITO/ZrCu (IZC) deposited on the PET substrate using magnetron sputtering at room temperature. In addition, the pure Ag metal layer was applied in the same structure of transparent conductive film, ITO/Ag, in comparison with the IZC film. The ZrCu layer could form a continuous and smooth film in thickness lower than 6 nm, compared with the island structure of pure Ag layer of the same thickness. The 30 nm ITO/3 nm ZrCu films could show the optical transmittance of 73% at 550 nm wavelength. The 30 nm ITO/12 nm ZrCu films could show the better sheet resistance of 20 Ω/sq, but it was still worse than that of the ITO/Ag films. It was suggested that an alloy system with lower resistivity and negative mixing heat between atoms might be another way to form a continuous layer in thickness lower than 6 nm for metal film.     

Multilevel resistive switching performance of TiO2-based flexible memory prepared by low-temperature sol-gel method with UV irradiation

The flexible Ag/TiO₂/ITO/PET resistive switching memory is prepared by low-temperature sol-gel method with UV irradiation, and the simple method that combined the advantages of sol-gel method and low temperature can be applied to fabricate high-quality film. The flexible Ag/TiO₂/ITO/PET memory device displays good resistive behavior, for instance, the narrow distributions of switching voltages, good cycle endurance, and long retention time. Meanwhile, the multilevel resistance states of the device can be realized by controlling the compliance current or reset voltages, showing the potential of applications in neural networks and high-density storge. In addition, flexibility of the Ag/TiO₂/ITO/PET is studied, which exhibit good endurance and retention properties under bending condition. The I–V curves are replotted and fitted for analyzing the conductive mechanism of the device. The fitting results show that SCLC and Ohmic mechanism are main mechanisms of high resistance state and low resistance state respectively. The electrochemical and thermochemical modes are adopted to explain resistive switching behavior. Our results indicate the Ag/TiO₂/ITO/PET memory has potential application in wearable and foldable electronics.     

ITO阳极电阻对有机电致发光器件性能的影响

以不同方块电阻的ITO作为阳极,利用真空热蒸发的方法制备了双层结构有机电致发光器件ITO/TPD/Alq3/LiF/Al,定量研究了ITO阳极电阻对器件光电性能的影响。实验结果表明,具有较大阳极电阻的器件在一定的驱动电压下表现出较低的电流密度和亮度,我们认为主要原因是阳极电阻的分压导致用于载流子注入的有效驱动电压减少。扣除阳极电阻以后,我们发现用于载流子注入的有效驱动电压并不受阳极电阻的影响。另外,我们没有观察到阳极电阻对器件发光效率的明显影响。     

Enhanced performance of the OLED with plasma treated ITO and plasma polymerized thiophene buffer layer

In this work, indium-tin-oxide (ITO) electrode in organic light emitting device (OLED) was modified by using an O₂ plasma treatment and plasma polymerized thiophene buffer layers were inserted between ITO (anode) and organic layer in order to improve the hole injection efficiency. Furthermore, electron injection to cathode (Al) in the test OLED seemed to be improved due to introduction of quantum well in the cathode. The plasma-polymerized thiophene buffer layer on the O₂ plasma-treated transparent ITO electrode seemed to result in formation of a stable interface and consequently, reduction the hole mobility, which in turn caused enhanced recombination of hole and electron in the emitting layer. Compared with the test device without buffer layer, the turn-on voltage of the test device with the buffer layer was lowered by 1.0 V.     

Fabrication and characterization of Pt intermediate transparent and conducting ITO/Pt/ITO multilayer films

Platinum intermediate transparent and conducting ITO/metal/ITO (IMI) multilayered films were deposited by RF and DC magnetron sputtering on polycarbonate substrates without intentional substrate heating. Changes in the microstructure and optoelectrical properties of the films were investigated with respect to the thickness of the intermediate Pt layer in the IMI films. The thickness of Pt film was varied from 5 to 20 nm.In XRD measurements, neither ITO single-layer films nor IMI multilayer films showed any characteristic diffraction peaks for In₂O₃ or SnO₂. Only a weak diffraction peak for Pt (1 1 1) was obtained in the XRD spectra. Thus, it can be concluded that the Pt-intermediated films in the IMI films did not affect the crystallinity of the ITO films. However, equivalent resistivity was dependent on the presence and thickness of the Pt-intermediated layer. It decreased as low as 3.3×10⁻⁴ Ω cm for ITO 50 nm/Pt 20 nm/ITO 30 nm films. Optical transmittance was also strongly influenced by the Pt-intermediated layer. As Pt thickness in the IMI films increased, optical transmittance decreased to as low as 30% for ITO 50 nm/Pt 20 nm/ITO 30 nm films.     

Effect of fatigue fracture on the resistive switching of TiO2-CuO film/ITO flexible memory device

We fabricated the GaIn/TiO₂-CuO/ITO resistive memory and studied the effect of fatigue fracture on the switching performance. The device shows the stable bipolar resistive switching over 10⁸ s under ambient condition. The ON/OFF ratio decreases seriously with increase of bending cycles. The main fatigue fracture caused by dynamic strain includes micro defect between nanoparticles, vertical crack along the film thickness and interfacial delamination between layers. Finite element analysis indicates that channel crack plays a key role to cause the interfacial delamination between function layer and ITO electrode. The channel crack and interfacial delamination can hinder the formation of tree−like conduction filaments. Moreover, oxygen via the cracks can be easily transformed to ions and reduce the density of oxygen vacancies under the catalytic assistance of CuO. Our studies may provide some useful information for inorganic materials applied in flexible nonvolatile memory.     

The interfacial reaction between ITO and silicon nitride deposited by PECVD in fringe field switching device

In fringe field switching (FFS) device, the distance (l) between electrodes should be smaller than the cell gap (d) to generate fringe field. In order to increase the transmittance, common and pixel electrodes which are separated with the insulator should be transparent conductive materials. When the silicon-nitride by plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition using SiH₄ gas is deposited on ITO in FFS device, the radical containing hydrogen causes the reduction of the indium-oxide to metallic indium on the film surface and finally the decrease of transmittance in visible range. To prohibit the reduction of In, the reduction of SiH₄ flow rate is needed. Therefore we suggest the two-step process in depositing the SiN_x consisting of a buffer-SiN_x layer and a bulk-SiN_x layer.     

Electrical conduction and bipolar switching properties in transparent vanadium oxide resistive random access memory (RRAM) devices

In this study, the electrical conduction and bipolar switching properties in transparent vanadium oxide thin films are investigated and discussed. (110)-oriented vanadium oxide thin films were well deposited onto transparent ITO substrates for the possible development of applications in the structure of system-on-panel devices. For the as-deposited vanadium oxide thin films, they were prepared for 1 h by a rf magnetron sputtering method of rf power 130 W, chamber pressure 10 mTorr, substrate temperature 550 °C, and different oxygen concentrations. In addition, the Al/V₂O₅/ITO device presents reliable and bipolar switching behavior. The on/off ratio and switching cycling of two stable states are found and discussed. We suggest that the current–voltage characteristics are governed by ohmic contact and Poole?Frankel emission transport model mechanisms in low- and high-voltage regions, respectively.     

低压反应离子镀方法制备ITO透明导电膜

溅射镀膜方法是制备ITO透明导电膜最常用也是实验研究最多的方法。实验使用一种不同于溅射方法的另一种制备工艺—低压反应离子镀方法—制备ITO透明导电膜。实验对不同沉积速率和不同氧气流量对ITO透明导电膜的方块电阻以及光学透过率的影响进行了详细地分析,并综合比较得到了当沉积速率为0.5nm/s,氧气流量为24cm3/min时,在波长为550nm处,方块电阻为20Ω,λ=550nm透过率为90.8%的优质ITO透明导电膜。     

Study of anti-clockwise bipolar resistive switching in Ag/NiO/ITO heterojunction assembly

The anti-clockwise bipolar resistive switching in Ag/NiO/ITO (Indium–Tin–Oxide) heterojunctional thin film assembly is investigated. A sequential voltage sweep in 0 → V _max → 0 → ?V _min → 0 order shows intrinsic hysteresis behaviour and resistive switching in current density (J)–voltage (V) measurements at room temperature. Switching is induced by possible rupture and recovery of the conducting filaments in NiO layer mediated by oxygen ion migration and interfacial effects at NiO/ITO junction. In the high-resistance OFF-state space charge limited current passes through the filamentary path created by oxygen ion vacancies. In OFF-state, the resistive switching behaviour is attributed to trapping and detrapping processes in shallow trap states mostly consisting of oxygen vacancies. The slope of Log I vs Log V plots, in shallow trap region of space charge limited conduction is ~2 (I ∝ V ²) followed by trap-filled and trap-free conduction. In the low-resistance ON-state, the observed electrical features are governed by the ohmic conduction.     

PbS纳米晶修饰的ZnO/PVP复合电双稳器件阻变机制

采用简单旋涂工艺制备了具有ITO/PVP/ZnO NCs/PbS NCs/PVP/Al 夹心结构的有机/无机复合电双稳存储器件,与没有PbS纳米晶修饰层的器件ITO/PVP/ZnO NCs/PVP/Al相比,PbS纳米晶的引入使目标器件的开关比提高了2个数量级。结合器件的I-V曲线和能级结构分析了PbS 纳米晶修饰层对器件阻变和载流子传输的影响。结果显示,PbS纳米晶层的加入不仅优化了器件能级结构,有利于载流子的俘获和释放,还修饰了ZnO纳米晶的表面缺陷,降低了器件载流子的复合损耗。     

Transparent conductive ITO/Ag/ITO multilayer electrodes deposited by sputtering at room temperature

ITO/Ag/ITO multilayers have been prepared onto conventional soda lime glass substrates by sputtering at room temperature. The optical and electrical characteristics of single layer and multilayer structures have been investigated as a function of the Ag and ITO film thicknesses. Transmittance and sheet resistance values are found mainly dependent on the Ag film thickness; whereas the wavelength range at which the maximum transmittance is achieved can be changed by adjusting the ITO films thickness. ITO/Ag/ITO electrodes with sheet resistance below 6 Ω/sq have been obtained for Ag film thickness above 10 nm and ITO layers thickness in the 30-50 nm range. These multilayers also show high transmittance in the visible spectral region, above 90% by discounting the glass substrate, with a maximum that is located at higher wavelengths for thicker ITO.     

Effect on the reduction of the barrier height in rear-emitter silicon heterojunction solar cells using Ar plasma-treated ITO film

In this study, we investigated the effect of plasma treatment on an indium tin oxide (ITO) film under an ambient Ar atmosphere. The sheet resistance of the plasma-treated ITO film at 250 W (37.6 Ω/sq) was higher than that of the as-deposited ITO film (34 Ω/sq). Plasma treatment was found to decrease the ITO grain size to 21.81 nm, in comparison with the as-deposited ITO (25.49 nm), which resulted in a decrease in the Hall mobility. The work function of the Ar-plasma-treated ITO (WF_ITO=4.17 eV) was lower than that of the as-deposited ITO film (WF_ITO = 5.13 eV). This lower work function was attributed to vacancies that formed in the indium and oxygen vacancies in the bonding structure. Rear-emitter silicon heterojunction (SHJ) solar cells fabricated using the plasma-treated ITO film exhibited an open circuit voltage (V_OC) of 734 mV, compared to SHJ cells fabricated using the as-deposited ITO film, which showed a V_OC of 704 mV. The increase in V_OC could be explained by the decrease in the work function, which is related to the reduction in the barrier height between the ITO and a-Si:H (n) of the rear-emitter SHJ solar cells. Furthermore, the performance of the plasma-treated ITO film was verified, with the front surface field layers, using an AFORS-HET simulation. The current density (J_SC) and V_OC increased to 39.44 mA/cm² and 736.8 mV, respectively, while maintaining a WF_ITO of 3.8 eV. Meanwhile, the efficiency was 22.9% at V_OC = 721.5 mV and J_SC = 38.55 mA/cm² for WF_ITO = 4.4 eV. However, an overall enhancement of 23.75% in the cell efficiency was achieved owing to the low work function value of the ITO film. Ar plasma treatment can be used in transparent conducting oxide applications to improve cell efficiency by controlling the barrier height.     

Mechanism analysis of switching direction transformation in an Er2O3 based RRAM device

The resistive random access memory (RRAM) based on resistive switching effect has considered to be the most advanced next generation memory, in which the switching direction determines the order of reading-writing. In this work, the rare-earth metal Er₂O₃ was used as functional layer, and Ag and indium-tin-oxide (ITO) are selected as top and bottom electrode to fabricate resistive switching device. Further, it is observed that the switching direction and memory window of resistive switching device can be regulated by exchanging top and bottom electrode. Moreover, the complementary switching memory behavior in Ag/Er₂O₃/ITO/Er₂O₃/Ag structure was also observed. Through mechanism analysis, it is expected that the barrier changes and metal-ions oxidation-reduction should be responsible for the conversion of switching direction and regulation of memory window. This work opens up a way to the development of next generation new concept memory.     

忆阻器单阻态下的记忆电容行为及多态特性

采用供体-受体类型的共聚物构建了Al/共聚物/ITO结构的有机记忆器件,并对其电流-电压(I-V)和电容-电压(C-V)特性进行了研究.结果表明:器件不仅表现出明显的记忆电阻特征,而且在单个电阻状态下还存在记忆电容行为,使器件呈现出两种电阻状态和与之对应的四种电容状态,具有电阻和电容的双参量记忆能力.在此基础上对器件的电容开关行为进行了电压幅值的调制,使器件出现了更多的电容状态,为多级存储的实现提供了一条有效途径.最后通过引入分子内部极化算符,建立了记忆电阻和记忆电容的关联性,给出了描述器件双参量多状态特征的矩阵模型.