Formation of a ternary oxide barrier layer and its role in switching characteristic of ZnO-based conductive bridge random access memory devices

TY - JOUR

T1 - Formation of a ternary oxide barrier layer and its role in switching characteristic of ZnO-based conductive bridge random access memory devices

AU - Simanjuntak, Firman Mangasa

AU - Panidi, Julianna

AU - Talbi, Fayzah

AU - Kerrigan, Adam

AU - Lazarov, Vlado K.

AU - Prodromakis, Themistoklis

N1 - Funding Information: The authors acknowledge the support from the EPSRC program grant (Grant No. EP/R024642/1), the H2020-FETPROACT-2018-01 SYNCH project, and MSCA EC Grant Agreement No. 224 No. 101029535–MENESIS. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 Author(s).

PY - 2022/3/3

Y1 - 2022/3/3

N2 - The insertion of a metal layer between an active electrode and a switching layer leads to the formation of a ternary oxide at the interface. The properties of this self-formed oxide are found to be dependent on the Gibbs free energy of oxide formation of the metal (ΔGf°). We investigated the role of various ternary oxides in the switching behavior of conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM) devices. The ternary oxide acts as a barrier layer that can limit the mobility of metal cations in the cell, promoting stable switching. However, too low (higher negative value) ΔGf° leads to severe trade-offs; the devices require high operation current and voltages to exhibit switching behavior and low memory window (on/off) ratio. We propose that choosing a metal layer having appropriate ΔGf° is crucial in achieving reliable CBRAM devices.

AB - The insertion of a metal layer between an active electrode and a switching layer leads to the formation of a ternary oxide at the interface. The properties of this self-formed oxide are found to be dependent on the Gibbs free energy of oxide formation of the metal (ΔGf°). We investigated the role of various ternary oxides in the switching behavior of conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM) devices. The ternary oxide acts as a barrier layer that can limit the mobility of metal cations in the cell, promoting stable switching. However, too low (higher negative value) ΔGf° leads to severe trade-offs; the devices require high operation current and voltages to exhibit switching behavior and low memory window (on/off) ratio. We propose that choosing a metal layer having appropriate ΔGf° is crucial in achieving reliable CBRAM devices.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85126537327&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1063/5.0076903

DO - 10.1063/5.0076903

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85126537327

SN - 2166-532X

VL - 10

JO - APL Materials

JF - APL Materials

IS - 3

M1 - 031103

ER -