Bottom-electrode effect on switching behavior and interface reaction in nanoionic-based resistive changing memory

Abstract

The bottom-electrode effect on a Cu/HfO2 stack structure, which is an oxide-based resistive random access memory (ReRAM) structure, and the resistance switching behavior of the structures were investigated by hard X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and by comparing the Pt and TiN bottom electrodes. In the Pt bottom electrode, a forward bias voltage induced the reduction of the unintentionally oxidized Cu top electrode and the Cu ion migration in the HfO2 layer, resulting in the switching from the high resistivity to the low resistivity at approximately ±1 V. In contrast, the TiN bottom electrode induced the formation of oxygen vacancies in the HfO2 layer and the thick Cu2O layer at the Cu/HfO2 interface, namely, it induced oxygen migration rather than Cu migration. The switching voltage of the Cu/HfO2/TiN structure was twice that of the Cu/HfO2/Pt structure. The switching mechanism in a nanoionic-type ReRAM structure can be controlled by changing the bottom electrode.