Improvement of Device Reliability by Introducing a BEOL-Compatible TiN Barrier Layer in CBRAM

Abstract

Negative-SET behavior, induced by nano-filament overgrowth phenomenon, takes major responsibility to the reset failure phenomenon in conductive bridge random access memory (CBRAM). The unexpected negative-SET behavior in CBRAM devices can result in serious reliability issues and has been an obstacle on the way to mass production. In this letter, we have proposed a back-end-of-line (BEOL) compatible TiN barrier layer to improve the device reliability in CBRAM devices by eliminating the nano-filament overgrowth phenomenon and negative-SET behavior. Thus, a higher reset voltage can be applied to the TiN barrier layer devices to achieve more complete reset process and obtain better resistive switching performance. The results show that the Cu/HfO2/TiN/Ru device with one transistor structure has excellent comprehensive memory properties, including high reliability, fast switching speed, high resistance state uniformity, high endurance, long retention, and multi-level storage ability.