Improved resistive switching characteristics of Ag/Al:HfO x /ITO/PET ReRAM for flexible electronics application

Abstract

The Al-doped HfO x flexible resistive random access memory (ReRAM) device with Ag top electrode (TE) is fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) coated polyethylene terephthalate (PET) with low thermal budget process. The oxygen vacancies created by Al doping may assist Ag inclusion to create/rupture the filament at lower operating voltages (V SET ≈ 0.46 V and V RESET ≈ −0.93 V) and SET/RESET currents (I SET ≈ 2 × 10−5 A and I RESET ≈ 8 × 10−5 A). The Ag/Al:HfO x /ITO/PET ReRAM exhibits highly stable resistive switching (RS) behaviour with lower switching power (P SET ≈ 9.2 µW and P RESET ≈ 74.4 µW). The stable switching parameters like SET/RESET voltages, resistances in high resistance states (HRS) and low resistance states (LRS) are observed even at higher temperature (100 °C) and in flexible condition (i.e. 5 mm dia). The current conduction mechanism in HRS is dominated by space charge limited conduction whereas LRS is not completely Ohmic in nature. The RS mechanism has been explained by the formation of the combined effect of Ag atoms and oxygen vacancies. Considering the improved performance of the ReRAM device fabricated at low-temperature process, it may provide a promising candidate for the low power flexible electronics applications.