Voltage-programmable negative differential resistance in memristor of single-crystalline lithium niobate thin film

Abstract

Negative differential resistance (NDR) in memristor has attracted considerable attention due to its nonlinear dynamic characteristic accompanied by resistive switching behavior. Here, we demonstrated the voltage-programmable NDR effect in an Au/LNO/Pt memristor based on a single-crystalline lithium niobate (SC-LNO) thin film tuned by low-energy Ar+ irradiation. A typical N-Shape NDR behavior occurs in reverse bias and can be programmed by changing the positive sweeping voltage. Moreover, thickness-dependent of the NDR behavior was also investigated. Thanks to the merit of the SC-LNO thin film, our memristor reveals excellent uniformity and reproducibility with low cycle-to-cycle variation (down to 1.82% for Ipeak and 2.94% for Vvalley). The carrier transport mechanism of our device is attributed to the interplay of trap-controlled space-charge-limited conduction (SCLC) and the Fowler–Nordheim (FN) tunneling. The transition from bulk-limited conduction (SCLC) to interfacial one (FN) tuned by Ar+ irradiation is crucial for our NDR devices.