Ni-Containing Electrodes for Compact Integration of Resistive Random Access Memory With CMOS

Abstract

Different HfO <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</i> -based resistive random access memory stacks with Ni-containing electrodes, including NiSi and Ni(Ge <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">1-x</sub> Si <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> ), which can be easily formed on the source/drain of a transistor, are systematically investigated in this letter. The involvement of Ni (or NiO <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</i> formed) at the interface has been found very beneficial to good switching properties. Moreover, RESET current can be effectively reduced for silicide electrodes compared to the <i xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">n</i> <sup xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">+</sup> -Si case, attributed to the formation of a thicker interfacial layer involving NiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> and/or GeO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> . In addition, a well-controlled interfacial layer is believed to be very helpful for the switching uniformity improvement. All these observations suggest the prospect of a compact 1T-1R integration scheme with Ni-containing electrodes.