Conductance Quantization in Nonvolatile Resistive Switching Memory Based on the Polymer Composite of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles

Abstract

The composite of zinc oxide (ZnO) and polyurethane (PU) was used as an active layer. The conductance quantization was demonstrated in nonvolatile resistive switching memory devices of the indium tin oxide/PU + ZnO/Al sandwich structure. The observed bipolar resistive switching behavior is estimated to arise from the formation and dissolution of Zn filaments. Furthermore, conductance quantization with both integer and half-integer multiples of G0 (2e2/h, where e is electron charge and h is Planck’s constant) has been observed in which multilevel conductance steps are separated by half-integer multiples of G0. The observed quantized conductance phenomena in multiple well-circumscribed resistance states were appropriate for application in multilevel data memory cells.