General considerations and implications of isolated oxygen vacancies in oxide-based filamentary ReRAM devices

Abstract

The ultimate challenge of filamentary oxide-based ReRAM devices for storage-class memory application is the control of oxygen vacancies. As a result of the specifications dictated by the performance–cost dependency, oxygen vacancies in the conductive filament are predominantly isolated. This paper tries to shed light on the properties and implications of isolated vacancies in conductive filaments of oxide-based ReRAM devices. The isolated defects are a consequence of the low power requirements and result in very unstable resistance states. To find viable engineering solutions, the physical origins of these unstable states need to be investigated. Some of the possible origins like isolated vacancies and the effect of excess charge in the switching layer are outlined in this paper.