Electric field control of magnetization reversal in conducting filament nanostructures in NiO resistive random access memory

Abstract

Abstract Magnetic nanostructures are attracting attention for use in magnetic storage applications because of the magnetization reversal that occurs when information is read and written. Here, we reveal that conducting filament (CF) nanostructures undergo magnetization switching on NiO thin film. We fabricated epitaxial NiO thin films deposited on a single-crystal Cu substrate through the pulsed laser deposition method. The resistive random access memory characteristics indicated that the current-voltage properties of the Au/NiO/Cu capacitor showed unipolar resistive switching behavior. Using conducting atomic force microscopy (CAFM), various CF nanostructures, i.e., nanodots, nanorods, and nanorings, were formed on the NiO thin film. We studied the reversal in the direction of the magnetization induced by the electric field in the CF nanorods and nanorings on the NiO thin film by using the tip of the CAFM. The CF nanostructures on the NiO thin film have ferromagnetic properties. The coercive field of the nanorings is larger than that of the nanorods, based on Ampere’s law. Our results showed that the magnetic field induced by applying voltage to the tip of the CAFM enables magnetization switching in the nanorods and nanorings.