Abstract
The demand for highly scalable, low-power devices for data storage and logic operations is strongly stimulating research into resistive switching as a novel concept for future non-volatile memory devices. To meet technological requirements, it is imperative to have a set of material design rules based on fundamental material physics, but deriving such rules is proving challenging. Here, we elucidate both switching mechanism and failure mechanism in the valence-change model material SrTiO3, and on this basis we derive a design rule for failure-resistant devices. Spectromicroscopy reveals that the resistance change during device operation and failure is indeed caused by nanoscale oxygen migration resulting in localized valence changes between Ti4+ and Ti3+. While fast reoxidation typically results in retention failure in SrTiO3, local phase separation within the switching filament stabilizes the retention. Mimicking this phase separation by intentionally introducing retention-stabilization layers with slow oxygen transport improves retention times considerably.
Highlights
The demand for highly scalable, low-power devices for data storage and logic operations is strongly stimulating research into resistive switching as a novel concept for future non-volatile memory devices
On the basis of simulations of the I–V characteristics and retention times, one finds that the retention failure mechanism for the low-resistance state (LRS) is based on the rupture of conducting filaments caused by reoxidation due to oxygen diffusion from the side[19,20] or along the vertical direction[21]
We explicitly confirm that the resistance changes that occur during device operation and retention failure are caused by oxygen migration and corresponding localized redox reactions between Ti3 þ and Ti4 þ configurations
Summary
The demand for highly scalable, low-power devices for data storage and logic operations is strongly stimulating research into resistive switching as a novel concept for future non-volatile memory devices. For the quantitative comparison of the retention behaviour of SrTiO3 thin-film devices as investigated in Fig. 1 with SrTiO3/SrO heterostructures, multiple devices were switched between the HRS and LRS configurations for both samples and the resistance values were monitored over several days.
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