Enhancing the Resistive Switching Performance in a Physically Transient Memristor by Doping MoS2 Quantum Dots

Abstract

Resistive random-access memory has attracted tremendous attention and numerous investigations as a promising next-generation nonvolatile memory device to address the physical limits of flash memory. Particularly, physically transient resistive switching memory is intensively researched for its degradable and environmentally friendly characteristics. Zinc oxide ($\mathrm{Zn}\mathrm{O}$), as a low-cost biocompatible and biodegradable material, has been widely used in the dielectric layer, yet many previous studies on $\mathrm{Zn}\mathrm{O}$-based memory devices show unsatisfactory switching properties. In this work, ${\mathrm{Mo}\mathrm{S}}_{2}$ quantum dots (QDs) are added between the $\mathrm{W}$ bottom electrode and $\mathrm{Zn}\mathrm{O}$ insulator by spin coating ($\mathrm{W}/{\mathrm{Mo}\mathrm{S}}_{2}$ QD$/\mathrm{Zn}\mathrm{O}/\mathrm{Ag}$) to improve its resistive switching behavior. The modified device exhibits distinctly better properties, including more-uniform switching parameters (low- and high-resistance states, ${V}_{\mathrm{set}}$, ${V}_{\mathrm{reset}}$), ultralow threshold voltages, and steady retention. Moreover, we transfer the device onto polyvinyl alcohol substrate, making it fully degradable, and it is completely dissolved in phosphate-buffered solution after 40 min. These results indicate that the ${\mathrm{Mo}\mathrm{S}}_{2}$ QD--optimized transient resistive switching memory shows great potential in green electronics, implantable biomedical devices, and secure information-storage applications.