RRAM properties of swift heavy ion irradiated Ag/In2O3/Pt/Si heterostructures

Abstract

Resistance switching (RS) properties of nanostructured In2O3 films grown on Pt bottom electrode have been investigated for non-volatile memory applications. Ag/In2O3/Pt/Si layers were fabricated by pulsed laser deposition and e-beam evaporation techniques. Identical samples were irradiated by 100 MeV Li+3 ions with fluence values ranging from 1×1011 to 5×1013 ions/cm2 at the MS beam line of Inter University Accelerator Centre, New Delhi. There was not much discrepancy found in atomic force microscopy and GIXRD for unirradiated and irradiated samples of In2O3. Typical I–V characteristics were recorded using the two-wire technique on unirradiated and irradiated Ag/In2O3/Pt/Si stack-geometry at room temperature. The hysteresis loops in the I–V curves were seen for the pristine device, suggesting the low-resistance state and high-resistance state in the sample. The RS ratio (R on/R off) of the order of 72% was estimated at room temperature. On the other hand, rectifying I–V curves were traced for sample irradiated by 1×1012 ions/cm2 100 MeV Li+3 ions. A general mechanism of the influence of swift heavy ion irradiation on RS of Ag/In2O3/Pt/Si heterostructures has been studied.