Self-Compliant Bipolar Resistive Switching in SiN-Based Resistive Switching Memory

Sungjun Kim,Yoon Kim,Byung-Gook Park,Tae-Hyeon Kim,Min-Hwi Kim,Yao-Feng Chang

doi:10.3390/ma10050459

Abstract

Here, we present evidence of self-compliant and self-rectifying bipolar resistive switching behavior in Ni/SiNx/n+ Si and Ni/SiNx/n++ Si resistive-switching random access memory devices. The Ni/SiNx/n++ Si device’s Si bottom electrode had a higher dopant concentration (As ion > 1019 cm−3) than the Ni/SiNx/n+ Si device; both unipolar and bipolar resistive switching behaviors were observed for the higher dopant concentration device owing to a large current overshoot. Conversely, for the device with the lower dopant concentration (As ion < 1018 cm−3), self-rectification and self-compliance were achieved owing to the series resistance of the Si bottom electrode.

Highlights

It is projected that, in the near future, NAND flash will be faced with scaling issues caused by cell-to-cell interference, hot carrier disturbance, and word-lines resistance [1]
The effective dopant concentration in the bottom electrode (BE) was above 1019 cm−3 and below 1018 cm−3 for the
Different resistive switching behaviors were observed for the different dopant concentrations in silicon BE

Summary

Introduction

In the near future, NAND flash will be faced with scaling issues caused by cell-to-cell interference, hot carrier disturbance, and word-lines resistance [1] Because overcoming these inherent physical limitations would cause the complexity of the fabrication process to increase, memory devices based on the new concept of resistive switching have been proposed [2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10]. The self-compliant and self-rectifying bipolar resistive switching in an Ni/SiNx /n+ -Si device is more favorable for the nonlinear low-current operation than Ni/SiNx /n++ -Si device for use in high-density memory applications

Experimental

Results and Discussion

Conclusions