Topotactic Metal-Insulator Phase Transition for Memristive Devices

Abstract

Oxide-based metal-insulator-metal structures are of special interest for future non-volatile resistive switching memory, also known as resistive random-access memory (ReRAM) [1]. In such cells, resistive switching in the oxide layer is widely believed to be caused by the electric‐field‐driven motion and internal redistribution of oxygen ions (or vacancies) with filament region, resulting in valence change on the cation sublattice [1]. There are very special oxide-material groups which undergo a reversible topotactic phase transition between the insulating brownmillerite and conducting perovskite structure upon the redox processes [2]. Recently, we introduced a topotactic phase changing brownmillerite SrMO2.5 (M = Co, Fe, etc.) as a novel material platform to harness exceptional oxygen ion transport properties for resistive switching memory devices for the first time [3,4]. Accordingly, we were able to demonstrate a promising resistive switching performance with high endurance (> 106 cycles), fast switching speed (10 ns), and high uniformity in key switching parameters [5,6]. By using X-ray absorption spectromicroscopy and in site TEM, we could prove that the resistance change is indeed caused by a reversible topotactic phase transition between an insulating SrFeO2.5 brownmillerite and a conductive SrFeO3 perovskite phase [7]. By engineering the ordered oxygen vacancy channels in brownmillerite structure, we further demonstrated complimentary resistive switching and synaptic memory behavior in the SrFeOx memristive devices [8]. Beyond resistive switching, our results demonstrated a clear path to tune the ionic controlled functionalities in the multiphase oxides by electrical bias at the nanoscale level, which is highly interesting in the field of magnetoelectric and spintronic device applications. Reference [1] R. Waser, R. Dittmann, C. Staikov, K. Szot, Adv. Mater. 21 (2009) 2632–2663. [2] H. Jeen, W.S. Choi, M.D. Biegalski, C.M. Folkman, I.C. Tung, D.D. Fong, J.W. Freeland, D. Shin, H. Ohta, M.F. Chisholm, H.N. Lee, Nat. Mater. 12 (2013) 1057–1063. [3] O.T. Tambunan, et. al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 105 (2014) 063507. [4] V.R. Nallagatla, C.U. Jung, Appl. Phys. Lett. 117 (2020). [5] S.K. Acharya, R.V. Nallagatla, O. Togibasa, B.W. Lee, C. Liu, C.U. Jung, B.H. Park, J.Y. Park, Y. Cho, D.W. Kim, J. Jo, D.H. Kwon, M. Kim, C.S. Hwang, S.C. Chae, ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 8 (2016) 7902–7911. [6] S.K. Acharya, J. Jo, N.V. Raveendra, U. Dash, M. Kim, H. Baik, S. Lee, B.H. Park, J.S. Lee, S.C. Chae, C.S. Hwang, C.U. Jung, Nanoscale 9 (2017) 10502–10510. [7] V.R. Nallagatla, T. Heisig, C. Baeumer, V. Feyer, M. Jugovac, G. Zamborlini, C.M. Schneider, R. Waser, M. Kim, C.U. Jung, R. Dittmann, Adv. Mater. 31 (2019) 1903391. [8] V. Raveendra Nallagatla, J. Kim, K. Lee, S. Chul Chae, C. Seong Hwang, C. Uk Jung, Cite This ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12 (2020) 41740–41748.