Low threshold voltage, highly stable electroforming-free threshold switching characteristics in VOx films-based device

Abstract

Threshold switching (TS) devices have evolved as one of the most promising elements in memory circuit due to their important significance in suppressing crosstalk current in the crisscross array structure. However, the issue of high threshold voltage (Vth) and low stability still restricts their potential applications. Herein, the vanadium oxide (VOx) films deposited by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method are adopted as the switching layer to construct the TS devices. The TS devices with Pt/VOx/Pt/PI structure exhibit non-polar, electroforming-free, and volatile TS characteristics with an ultralow Vth (+0.48 V/−0.48 V). Besides that, the TS devices also demonstrates high stability, without obviously performance degradations after 350 cycles of endurance measurements. Additionally, the transition mechanism is mainly attributed to the synergistic effect of metal-insulator transition of VO2 and oxygen vacancies. Furthermore, the nonvolatile bipolar resistance switching behaviors can be obtained by changing oxygen pressure during the deposition process for switching films. This work demonstrates that vanadium oxide film is a good candidate as switching layer for applications in the TS devices and opens an avenue for future electronics.