Resistive switching behavior and mechanism of HfO_(x) films with large on/off ratio by structure design

Different bilayer structures of HfO_(x)/Ti(TiO_(x)) are designed for hafnium-based memory to investigate the switching characteristics. The chemical states in the films and near the interface are characterized by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy,and the oxygen vacancies are analyzed. Highly improved on/off ratio(~104) and much uniform switching parameters are observed for bilayer structures compared to single layer HfO_(x) sample, which can be attributed to the modulation of oxygen vacancies at the interface and better control of the growth of filaments. Furthermore, the reliability of the prepared samples is investigated. The carrier conduction behaviors of HfO_(x)-based samples can be attributed to the trapping and de-trapping process of oxygen vacancies and a filamentary model is proposed. In addition, the rupture of filaments during the reset process for the bilayer structures occur at the weak points near the interface by the recovery of oxygen vacancies accompanied by the variation of barrier height. The re-formation of fixed filaments due to the residual filaments as lightning rods results in the better switching performance of the bilayer structure.

Resistive switching properties of SnO_(2)nanowires fabricated by chemical vapor deposition

Resistive switching(RS)devices have great application prospects in the emerging memory field and neuromorphic field,but their stability and unclear RS mechanism limit their relevant applications.In this work,we construct a hydrogenated Au/SnO_(2)nanowire(NW)/Au device with two back-to-back Schottky diodes and investigate the RS characteristics in air and vacuum.We find that the Ion/Io ff ratio increases from 20 to 10^(4)when the read voltage decreases from 3.1 V to^(-1)V under the condition of electric field.Moreover,the rectification ratio can reach as high as 10^4owing to oxygen ion migration modulated by the electric field.The nanodevice also shows non-volatile resistive memory characteristic.The RS mechanism is clarified based on the changes of the Schottky barrier width and height at the interface of Au/SnO_(2)NW/Au device.Our results provide a strategy for designing high-performance memristive devices based on SnO_(2)NWs.

Electric-field control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy by resistive switching via electrochemical metallization

Electric-field control of perpendicular magnetic anisotropy(PMA) is a feasible way to manipulate perpendicular magnetization,which is of great importance for realizing energy-efficient spintronics.Here,we propose a novel approach to accomplish this task at room temperature by resistive switching(RS) via electrochemical metallization(ECM) in a device with the stack of Si/SiO_(2)/Ta/Pt/Ag/Mn-doped ZnO(MZO)/Pt/Co/Pt/ITO.By applying certain voltages,the device could be set at high-resistance-state(HRS) and low-resistance-state(LRS),accompanied with a larger and a smaller coercivity(H_(C)),respectively,which demonstrates a nonvolatile E-field control of PMA.Based on our previous studies and the present control experiments,the electric modulation of PMA can be briefly explained as follows.At LRS,the Ag conductive filaments form and pass through the entire MZO layer and finally reach the Pt/Co/Pt sandwich,leading to weakening of PMA and reduction of H_(C).In contrast,at HRS,most of the Ag filaments dissolve and leave away from the Pt/Co/Pt sandwich,causing partial recovery of PMA and an increase of H_(C).This work provides a new clue to designing low-power spintronic devices based on PMA films.

Flexible and degradable resistive switching memory fabricated with sodium alginate

Transient electronics has attracted interest as an emerging technology to solve electronic-waste problem,due to its physically vanishing ability in solution.Here in this work,we demonstrate a flexible and degradable transient resistive switching(RS) memory device with simple structure of Cu/sodium alginate(SA)/ITO.The device presents excellent RS characteristics as well as high flexibility,including low operating voltage(<1.5 V) and multilevel RS behavior.No performance degradation occurs after bending the device 50 times.Moreover,our device can be absolutely dissolved in deionized water.The proposed SA-based transient memory device has great potential for the development of green and security memory devices.

Observation of Resistive Switching Memory by Reducing Device Size in a New Cr/CrO_x/TiO_x/TiN Structure

The resistive switching memory characteristics of 100 randomly measured devices were observed by reducing device size in a Cr/Cr Ox/Ti Ox/Ti N structure for the first time.Transmission electron microscope image confirmed a viahole size of 0.4 lm.A 3-nm-thick amorphous Ti Oxwith 4-nm-thick polycrystalline Cr Oxlayer was observed.A small 0.4-lm device shows reversible resistive switching at a current compliance of 300 l A as compared to other larger size devices(1–8 lm)owing to reduction of leakage current through the Ti Oxlayer.Good device-to-device uniformity with a yield of[85%has been clarified by weibull distribution owing to higher slope/shape factor.The switching mechanism is based on oxygen vacancy migration from the Cr Oxlayer and filament formation/rupture in the Ti Oxlayer.Long read pulse endurance of[105cycles,good data retention of 6 h,and a program/erase speed of 1 ls pulse width have been obtained.

Resistive Switching Memory of TiO2 Nanowire Networks Grown on Ti Foil by a Single Hydrothermal Method

The resistive switching characteristics of TiO_2 nanowire networks directly grown on Ti foil by a single-step hydrothermal technique are discussed in this paper. The Ti foil serves as the supply of Ti atoms for growth of the TiO_2 nanowires, making the preparation straightforward. It also acts as a bottom electrode for the device. A top Al electrode was fabricated by e-beam evaporation process. The Al/TiO_2 nanowire networks/Ti device fabricated in this way displayed a highly repeatable and electroforming-free bipolar resistive behavior with retention for more than 10~4 s and an OFF/ON ratio of approximately 70. The switching mechanism of this Al/TiO_2 nanowire networks/Ti device is suggested to arise from the migration of oxygen vacancies under applied electric field. This provides a facile way to obtain metal oxide nanowire-based Re RAM device in the future.

A Cu/ZnO Nanowire/Cu Resistive Switching Device

A new device has been realized using flip-chip joining two printed circuit boards(PCBs) on which zinc oxide(ZnO) nanowires were synthesized. Energy dispersive X-ray measurement has been conducted for the ZnO nanowires, confirming that Cu elements have been diffused into the nanowires during the chemical growth process. From I-V measurements, this Cu/ZnO nanowire/Cu structure exhibits a resistive tuning behaviour, which varies greatly with the frequency of the applied sinusoidal source.

Hydrothermal Preparation and White-Light-Controlled Resistive Switching Behavior of BaWO_4 Nanospheres

In this work, BaWO4 nanospheres were successfully prepared by hydrothermal process. The bipolar resistive switching behavior of Ag/BaWO4/FTO device is observed. Moreover, this resistive switching behavior can be modulated by white light. The device can maintain superior stability in the dark and under white-light illumination. This study is useful for developing the light-controlled nonvolatile memory devices.

Charge transport and bipolar switching mechanism in a Cu/HfO_2/Pt resistive switching cell

Bipolar resistance switching characteristics are investigated in Cu/sputtered-HfO_2/Pt structure in the application of resistive random access memory(RRAM).The conduction mechanism of the structure is characterized to be SCLC conduction.The dependence of resistances in both high resistance state(HRS) and low resistance state(LRS) on the temperature and device area are studied.Then,the composition and chemical bonding state of Cu and Hf at Cu/HfO_2 interface region are analyzed by x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy(XPS).Combining the electrical characteristics and the chemical structure at the interface,a model for the resistive switching effect in Cu/HfO_2/Pt stack is proposed.According to this model,the generation and recovery of oxygen vacancies in the HfO_2 film are responsible for the resistance change.

Optically-controlled resistive switching effects of CdS nanowire memtransistor

Since it was proposed,memtransistors have been a leading candidate with powerful capabilities in the field of neural morphological networks.A memtransistor is an emerging structure combining the concepts of a memristor and a field-effect transistor with low-dimensional materials,so that both optical excitation and electrical stimuli can be used to modulate the memristive characteristics,which make it a promising multi-terminal hybrid device for synaptic structures.In this paper,a single CdS nanowire memtransistor has been constructed by the micromechanical exfoliation and alignment lithography methods.It is found that the CdS memtransistor has good non-volatile bipolar memristive characteristics,and the corresponding switching ratio is as high as 10^(6) in the dark.While under illumination,the behavior of the CdS memtransistor is similar to that of a transistor or a memristor depending on the incident wavelengths,and the memristive switching ratio varies in the range of 10 to 10^(5) with the increase of the incident wavelength in the visible light range.In addition,the optical power is also found to affect the memristive characteristics of the device.All of these can be attributed to the modulation of the potential barrier by abundant surface states of nanowires and the illumination influences on the carrier concentrations in nanowires.

Electro-optical dual modulation on resistive switching behavior in BaTiO3/BiFeO3/TiO2 heterojunction

The novel BaTiO3/BiFeO3/TiO2 multilayer heterojunction is prepared on a fluorine-doped tinoxide(FTO) substrate by the sol–gel method. The results indicate that the Pt/Ba TiO3/BiFeO3/TiO2/FTO heterojunction exhibits stable bipolar resistive switching characteristic, good retention performance, and reversal characteristic. Under different pulse voltages and light fields, four stable resistance states can also be realized. The analysis shows that the main conduction mechanism of the resistive switching characteristic of the heterojunction is space charge limited current(SCLC) effect. After the comprehensive analysis of the band diagram and the P–E ferroelectric property of the multilayer heterojunction, we can deduce that the SCLC is formed by the effect of the oxygen vacancy which is controlled by ferroelectric polarizationmodulated change of interfacial barrier. And the effective photo-generated carrier also plays a regulatory role in resistance state(RS), which is formed by the double ferroelectric layer Ba TiO3/BiFeO3 under different light fields. This research is of potential application values for developing the multi-state non-volatile resistance random access memory(RRAM) devices based on ferroelectric materials.

Resistive switching memory for high density storage and computing

The resistive random access memory(RRAM)has stimulated a variety of promising applications including programmable analog circuit,massive data storage,neuromorphic computing,etc.These new emerging applications have huge demands on high integration density and low power consumption.The cross-point configuration or passive array,which offers the smallest footprint of cell size and feasible capability of multi-layer stacking,has received broad attention from the research community.In such array,correct operation of reading and writing on a cell relies on effective elimination of the sneaking current coming from the neighboring cells.This target requires nonlinear I-V characteristics of the memory cell,which can be realized by either adding separate selector or developing implicit build-in nonlinear cells.The performance of a passive array largely depends on the cell nonlinearity,reliability,on/off ratio,line resistance,thermal coupling,etc.This article provides a comprehensive review on the progress achieved concerning 3D RRAM integration.First,the authors start with a brief overview of the associative problems in passive array and the category of 3D architectures.Next,the state of the arts on the development of various selector devices and self-selective cells are presented.Key parameters that influence the device nonlinearity and current density are outlined according to the corresponding working principles.Then,the reliability issues in 3D array are summarized in terms of uniformity,endurance,retention,and disturbance.Subsequently,scaling issue and thermal crosstalk in 3D memory array are thoroughly discussed,and applications of 3D RRAM beyond storage,such as neuromorphic computing and CMOL circuit are discussed later.Summary and outlooks are given in the final.

Atomic crystals resistive switching memory

Facing the growing data storage and computing demands, a high accessing speed memory with low power and non volatile character is urgently needed. Resistive access random memory with 4F^2 cell size, switching in sub-nanosecond cycling endurances of over 10^(12) cycles, and information retention exceeding 10 years, is considered as promising nex generation non-volatile memory. However, the energy per bit is still too high to compete against static random acces memory and dynamic random access memory. The sneak leakage path and metal film sheet resistance issues hinder th further scaling down. The variation of resistance between different devices and even various cycles in the same device hold resistive access random memory back from commercialization. The emerging of atomic crystals, possessing fin interface without dangling bonds in low dimension, can provide atomic level solutions for the obsessional issues. Moreove the unique properties of atomic crystals also enable new type resistive switching memories, which provide a brand-new direction for the resistive access random memory.

Any-polar resistive switching behavior in Ti-intercalated Pt/Ti/HfO_(2)/Ti/Pt device

The special any-polar resistive switching mode includes the coexistence and stable conversion between the unipolar and the bipolar resistive switching mode under the same compliance current.In the present work,the any-polar resistive switching mode is demonstrated when thin Ti intercalations are introduced into both sides of Pt/HfO_(2)/Pt RRAM device.The role of the Ti intercalations contributes to the fulfillment of the any-polar resistive switching working mechanism,which lies in the filament constructed by the oxygen vacancies and the effective storage of the oxygen ion at both sides of the electrode interface.

Review of resistive switching mechanisms for memristive neuromorphic devices

Memristive devices have attracted intensive attention in developing hardware neuromorphic computing systems with high energy efficiency due to their simple structure,low power consumption,and rich switching dynamics resembling biological synapses and neurons in the last decades.Fruitful demonstrations have been achieved in memristive synapses neurons and neural networks in the last few years.Versatile dynamics are involved in the data processing and storage in biological neurons and synapses,which ask for carefully tuning the switching dynamics of the memristive emulators.Note that switching dynamics of the memristive devices are closely related to switching mechanisms.Herein,from the perspective of switching dynamics modulations,the mainstream switching mechanisms including redox reaction with ion migration and electronic effect have been systemically reviewed.The approaches to tune the switching dynamics in the devices with different mechanisms have been described.Finally,some other mechanisms involved in neuromorphic computing are briefly introduced.

Surface Mapping of Resistive Switching CrOx Thin Films

In this work, we investigated resistive switching behavior of CrOx thin films grown by using sputtering technique. Conventional I-V measurements obtained from Ag/CrOx/Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si structures depict the bipolar switching behavior, which is controlled by formation/dissolution processes of Ag conducting filaments through electrochemical redox reaction under external electric field driven. Conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) technique provides the valuable mapping images of existing Ag filaments at low resistance state as well as the characteristics of filament distributions and diameters. This study also reveals that where the higher amplitude of topography is, the easier possibility of forming conducting filament paths is on CrOx surface films.

Uniform, fast, and reliable CMOS compatible resistive switching memory

Resistive switching random access memory(RRAM) is considered as one of the potential candidates for next-generation memory. However, obtaining an RRAM device with comprehensively excellent performance, such as high retention and endurance, low variations, as well as CMOS compatibility, etc., is still an open question. In this work, we introduce an insert TaO_(x) layer into HfO_(x)-based RRAM to optimize the device performance. Attributing to robust filament formed in the TaO_(x) layer by a forming operation, the local-field and thermal enhanced effect and interface modulation has been implemented simultaneously. Consequently, the RRAM device features large windows(> 10^(3)), fast switching speed(-10 ns), steady retention(> 72h), high endurance(> 10^(8) cycles), and excellent uniformity of both cycle-to-cycle and device-to-device. These results indicate that inserting the TaO_(x) layer can significantly improve HfO_(x)-based device performance, providing a constructive approach for the practical application of RRAM.

Resistive switching and artificial synaptic performances of memristor based on low-dimensional bismuth halide perovskites

Zero-dimensional(0D)-Cs_(3)Bi_(2)I_(9),two-dimensional(2D)-Cs_(3)Bi_(2)Br_(9),and one-dimensional(1D)-Cs3Bi2Cl9 perovskite films have been successfully grown on indium tin oxide(ITO)glass substrates,which were used to fabricate memristors with the structure of Al/Cs_(3)Bi_(2)X_(9)(X=I,Br,and Cl)/ITO glass.The current three types of memristors exhibited bipolar resistive switching behaviors.Both the endurance and retention time tests clearly demonstrated the excellent stability of present devices.Especially,the ON/OFF ratio of the 0D-Cs_(3)Bi_(2)I_(9)device is close to 104 at the reading voltage of 0.1 V,which is nearly 100 and 1000 times larger than those of the 1D-Cs3Bi2Cl9 device and the 2D-Cs_(3)Bi_(2)Br_(9)device,respectively.The activation energy of halide vacancies in the Cs_(3)Bi_(2)X_(9)(X=I,Br,and Cl)films was calculated using the density functional theory by considering a minimum migration path,demonstrating the dimensionality of the Cs_(3)Bi_(2)X_(9)(X=I,Br,and Cl)film affected the formation and rupture of conductive filaments.Moreover,the short-term plasticity and long-term plasticity of biological synapse were simulated by evaluating the conductance responses of Al/Cs_(3)Bi_(2)X_(9)(X=I,Br,and Cl)/ITO devices under various voltage pulses in detail.The duration time of long-term plasticity in all the present devices can last for up to 250 s.The 0D-Cs_(3)Bi_(2)I_(9)device showed both the highest spikeduration-dependent plasticity and paired-pulse facilitation indexes compared to the other two devices.Additionally,the 0DCs_(3)Bi_(2)I_(9)device successfully established the associative learning behavior by simulating the Pavlov’s dog experiment.

Titanium oxide artificial synaptic device:Nanostructure modeling and synthesis,memristive cross-bar fabrication,and resistive switching investigation

The paper shows the results of the mathematical model development and the numerical simulation of the oxygen vacancies,and the distribution of TiO,Ti_(2)O_(3),and TiO_(2)oxides in the titanium oxide nanostructure obtained by local anodic oxidation(anodization).The effect of the anodization voltage pulse duration and amplitude on the titanium oxide composition distribution and the conduction channel formation was shown.Synaptic device prototypes based on electrochemical titanium oxide are fabricated and investigated.It was shown that forming free resistive switching between the low resistances state(LRS)1.43±0.54 kΩand the high resistance state(HRS)28.75±9.75 kΩwere observed during 100,000 switching cycles and LRS 1.49±0.23 kΩwas maintained for 10,000 s.Multilevel resistive switching of the synaptic device prototype was investigated.It was shown that increasing Uset from 0.5 to 1.5 V leads to different LRS from 3.96±0.19 to 0.71±0.10 kΩ.The results obtained can be used in the development of technological foundations for the formation of high-performance multilevel artificial synapses for elements of neuroelectronics and hardware neural networks.

Scalable nanocomposite parylene-based memristors:Multifilamentary resistive switching and neuromorphic applications

Memristors are promising candidates for synapse emulation in brain-inspired neuromorphic computing systems.The main obstacle to their usage in such systems is high variability of memristive characteristics and its severe negative effect on the neural network training.This paper addresses the issue from two points of view on the example of the parylene-based memristors:(i)the methods of the memristor internal stochasticity decrease and(ii)the methods of the memristive neural network architecture simplification.The introduction of an optimal Ag nanoparticle concentration(3 vol.%–6 vol.%)to the memristive structure leads to a statistically significant decrease in the switching voltage variation and endurance increase.Moreover,it is shown that post-fabrication annealing improves memristive characteristics,e.g.,resistive switching window increases by an order of magnitude and exceeds 106,the switching voltage variation decreases by a factor of 2(down to 7%for the set and 17%for the reset voltage),and thermostability is improved.Additional transmission electron microscopy and impedance spectroscopy analysis allowed establishing a multifilamentary resistive switching mechanism for nanocomposite parylene-based memristors.The simulation of the formal neural network based on these memristors demonstrates high classification accuracy with low variation for an important biomedical task,heart disease prediction,after careful feature selection and network architecture simplification.Future prospects of the controlled incorporation of the nanocomposite parylene-based memristors in neural networks are brightened by their scaling possibility in crossbar geometry.