Flexible non-volatile Cu/Cu<inf>x</inf>O/Ag ReRAM memory devices fabricated using ink-jet printing technology

Abstract

Flexible electronic devices are an emerging kind of electronics in a technological field that is attracting an increasing amount of attention. Flexible resistive random access memory (ReRAM) devices have great potential to replace conventional nonvolatile RAM. Here, we have investigated ink-jet printed Cu/Cu <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf> O/Ag ReRAM devices fabricated on flexible Kapton substrate with a 20μm×20μm cell size. The electroformed memory cells exhibit stable bipolar resistive switching (BRS) behavior under low-range direct current sweep in the temperature range from 255K to 355K. The Cu/Cu <inf xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</inf> O/Ag ReRAM devices switch to high resistance state (HRS) and low resistance state (LRS) at opposite polarities of the applied voltage bias. Furthermore, the ReRAM device has excellent switching endurance and data retention performance and has ability to operate well even after over 1000 flexes. The good ductility of ink-jet printed silver and electroplate copper electrodes and simple cross-point structure of the memory cell result in excellent flexibility and mechanical robustness, indicating great potential for future flexible nonvolatile RAM applications.