Abstract
Here we show electrochemical metallization cells with compact dimensions, excellent electrical performance, and reproducible characteristics. An advanced technology platform has been developed to obtain Ag/SiO2/Pt devices with ultra-scaled footprints (15 × 15 nm2), inter-electrode distances down to 1 nm, and a transition from the OFF to ON resistance state relying on the relocation of only few atoms. This technology permits a well-controlled metallic filament formation in a highly confined field at the apex of an atomic scale tip. As a consequence of this miniaturization process, we achieve set voltages around 100 mV, ultra-fast switching times of 7.5 ns, and write energies of 18 fJ. Furthermore, we demonstrate very good cell-to-cell uniformity and a resistance extinction ratio as high as 6 · 105. Combined ab-initio quantum transport simulations and experiments suggest that the manufactured structures exhibit reduced self-heating effects due to their lower dimensions, making them very promising candidates as next-generation (non-)volatile memory components.
Highlights
We show electrochemical metallization cells with compact dimensions, excellent electrical performance, and reproducible characteristics
A finite element method (FEM) electric field simulation is shown in Fig. 1b with the computer simulation technology (CST) Studio Suite
A top- and cross-section view of the atomic scale electrochemical metallization (ECM) cell is depicted in Fig. 1d, e, respectively
Summary
We show electrochemical metallization cells with compact dimensions, excellent electrical performance, and reproducible characteristics. We show excellent ECM device performance: a combination of switching voltages around 100 mV, an ultrafast switching speed 7.5 nanoseconds with write energies of 18 fJ, a resistance extinction ratio as high as 6 × 105, an endurance way beyond thousands of cycles, and a reliable operation up to high currents (200 μA) The combination of these unique features can be attributed to highly localized electric fields offered by properly engineered device geometries, namely the presence of a sharp nanometer-sized metal tip at one of the two metallic electrodes that form the ECM device. Ab-initio quantum transport calculations further highlight the advantages of the proposed ultrashort and narrow metallic filaments when it comes to power consumption and heat dissipation within the filament
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