Chapter 12 - Resistive switching in metal oxides for various applications

Abstract

Resistive switching (RS) is the property of a material to tune its resistance with respect to applied electric stress. It has many applications in semiconductor electronics, such as nonvolatile memory (resistive random access memory [RRAM]), artificial synapse, and computing elements in reconfigurable logic circuits. RRAM exhibits excellent stability, endurance, and retention, which are the essential characteristics of an ideal nonvolatile memory. RRAM is considered the next-generation nonvolatile memory since the conventional flash memory would meet the limitations of miniaturization in the near future. Apart from limited endurance (operation cycle), NAND-based flash memory has a complicated device structure, because of which high-density fabrication may not be possible. RRAM is a two-terminal nanodevice; hence a high-density 3D crossbar array is proposed. Artificial synapse is used in constructing artificial neural networks for neuromorphic computing, which is a novel computing technology inspired by the human brain (brain-inspired computing). Such computing is essential for advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning. This type of advanced technology can be emulated with RS devices. Boolean logic operations can also be easily integrated into RRAM, leading to the technology of in-memory computation, which can address the von Neumann bottleneck present in the conventional computer architecture. In this chapter the RS mechanism and its various applications are discussed.