Thickness-Optimized Multilevel Resistive Switching of Silver Programmable Metallization Cells With Stacked SiO<sub><italic>x</italic></sub>/SiO<sub>2</sub> Solid Electrolytes

Abstract

Multilevel resistive switching (RS) characteristics of silver programmable metallization cells (Ag-PMCs) with stacked SiO x /SiO2 solid electrolytes have been investigated. Combined with conventional high/low resistance states and additional two middle resistance states (MRS1/MRS2), a multilevel cell operation of stacked-solid-electrolyte Ag-PMCs is achieved and optimized by the film thickness. Furthermore, the RS mechanism at middle resistance states has been proposed to be locally discontinuous Ag conductive filament (Ag-CF) within the stacked solid electrolytes by examining the carrier transportation and two-frequency calibrated capacitance. The stacked silicon oxide layers can prevent the Ag-CF from regeneration during the multilevel retention test, contributing to the superior retention properties to more than $10^{4}$ s at 125 °C. In addition, a sequentially multilevel cycling test of more than $10^{3}$ times with a resistance ratio of two orders of magnitude between each resistance state is realized by the stacked-solid-electrolyte Ag-PMCs, suitable for future high-density nonvolatile memory applications.