Filamentary Devices Research Articles

Self‐Healing Magnetic Field‐Assisted Threshold Switching Device Utilizing Dual Field‐Driven Filamentary Physics

AbstractAdvanced filamentary devices are crucial for developing low‐power devices to implement high‐speed logic and neuromorphic devices. Among these, HfO2‐based filamentary devices have attracted attention as viable options due to their threshold‐switching characteristics and compatibility with complementary metal‐oxide‐semiconductor (CMOS) technology. However, the unpredictability of conventional filament formation/rupture driven by an electric field challenges consistency and reliability. A paradigm shift from conventional stochastic electric field‐driven ion migration to controllable ion‐based transportation is essential to devise functional low‐power devices capable of controlling the filament process. This work introduces a magnetic field‐assisted threshold switching (MA‐TS) device, which integrates a neodymium magnet and a nickel (Ni) barrier layer to enable controlled dual field‐driven ion transportation. The dual field‐driven process combining the conventional vertical electric field‐driven ion migration with lateral magnetic field‐driven ion transportation, reveals a distinctive aspect of ion movement. The MA‐TS device achieves superior performances characterized by an ultra‐low threshold voltage (≈0 V), minimized leakage current in the off‐state, a variation‐immune hysteresis‐free characteristic, enhanced yield, and revival‐ability (i.e., self‐healing) after a failed TS operation. By overcoming the limitations of conventional filamentary devices, the MA‐TS device opens up a promising avenue for efficient and stable low‐power applications.

Collective Control of Potential-Constrained Oxygen Vacancies in Oxide Heterostructures for Gradual Resistive Switching.

Filamentary resistive switching in oxides is one of the key strategies for developing next-generation non-volatile memory devices. However, despite numerous advantages, their practical applications in neuromorphic computing are still limited due to non-uniform and indeterministic switching behavior. Given the inherent stochasticity of point defect migration, the pursuit of reliable switching likely demands an innovative approach. Herein, a collective control of oxygen vacancies is introduced in LaAlO3 /SrTiO3 (LAO/STO) heterostructures to achieve reliable and gradual resistive switching. By exploiting an electrostatic potential constraint in ultrathin LAO/STO heterostructures, the formation of conducting filaments is suppressed, but instead precisely control the concentration of oxygen vacancies. Since the conductance of the LAO/STO device is governed by the ensemble concentration of oxygen vacancies, not their individual probabilistic migrations, the resistive switching is more uniform and deterministic compared to conventional filamentary devices. It provides direct evidence for the collective control of oxygen vacancies by spectral noise analysis and modeling by Monte-Carlo simulation. As a proof of concept, the significantly-improved analog switching performance of the filament-free LAO/STO devices is demonstrated, revealing potential for neuromorphic applications. The results establish an approach to store information by point defect concentration, akin to biological ionic channels, for enhancing switching characteristics of oxide materials.

Highly Deterministic One-Shot Set–Reset Programming Scheme in PCMO Resistive Random-Access Memory

Resistive random-access memory (RRAM) devices are very versatile with applications ranging from digital nonvolatile memories to analog synapses and integrate-fire neurons. Recently, RRAM based stochastic neurons have also been proposed for optimization networks that solve NP-hard problems. These applications rely on reliably writing a given conductance state repeatedly. A Pr1–xCaxMnO3 (PCMO) based RRAM device is a nonfilamentary, bulk switching RRAM which demonstrates low device-to-device variations compared to filamentary RRAMs. However, a low complexity programming scheme to demonstrate low cycle-to-cycle variations (C2CV) as well is needed. In this work, we propose a one-shot Set (initialize) and Reset (program) scheme to experimentally demonstrate low C2CV (<15%) for multiple devices. Compared to one-shot programming on a filamentary device, there is a 2–4× increment in the number of levels that can be stored per device using PCMO RRAM. Further, one-shot programming in PCMO RRAM leads to a 35× (10×) reduction in the number of pulses for 3 (2) bits per device, respectively. This greatly simplifies the memory controller design for these devices compared to any iterative write-verify schemes. This scheme gives a further insight into the self-heating limited Set operation controlled by a series resistor while reinforcing the analog and precise nature of the Reset operation. We studied the impact of the C2CV in programming RRAM-based stochastic neurons on the Max-Cut optimization problem using Boltzmann machines. PCMO RRAM combined with the one-shot programming scheme emerges as the clear choice for a well-controlled RRAM device with minimal peripheral complexity.

Enhancing Reliability of Studies on Single Filament Memristive Switching via an Unconventional cAFM Approach.

Memristive devices are highly promising for implementing neuromorphic functionalities in future electronic hardware, and direct insights into memristive phenomena on the nanoscale are of fundamental importance to reaching this. Conductive atomic force microscopy (cAFM) has proven to be an essential tool for probing memristive action locally on the nanoscale, but the significance of the acquired data frequently suffers from the nonlocality associated with the thermal drift of the tip in ambient conditions. Furthermore, comparative studies of different configurations of filamentary devices have proven to be difficult, because of an immanent variability of the filament properties between different devices. Herein, these problems are addressed by constraining the memristive action directly at the apex of the probe through functionalization of a cAFM tip with an archetypical memristive stack, which is comprised of Ag/Si3N4. The design of such functionalized cantilevers (entitled here as “memtips”) allowed the capture of the long-term intrinsic current response, identifying temporal correlations between switching events, and observing emerging spiking dynamics directly at the nanoscale. Utilization of an identical memtip for measurements on different counter electrodes made it possible to directly compare the impact of different device configurations on the switching behavior of the same filament. Such an analytical approach in ambient conditions will pave the way towards a deeper understanding of filamentary switching phenomena on the nanoscale.

Off-State Operation of a Three Terminal Ionic FET for Logic-in-Memory

We demonstrate a novel concept for low power compute-in-memory applications in a room temperature fabricated ZnO/Ta <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> O <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5</sub> thin film transistor. By writing during the off-state, the device power consumption is reduced to nW despite a large L/W ratio. A thinner gate insulator thickness gives higher on/off ratio, nevertheless this reduces the retention time. The on/off ratio in the thicker oxide can be improved by asymmetric voltage pulses of higher magnitude in the off state without affecting power consumption. Benchmarked against other ReRAM devices, the device shows a competitive 8 nJ per transition, which allows a reduction in power consumption compared to a filamentary device. Such non-filamentary devices have closer similarity to biological synapses on account of slow operating speed.

Silicon compatible Sn-based resistive switching memory.

Large banks of cheap, fast, non-volatile, energy efficient, scalable solid-state memories are an increasingly essential component for today's data intensive computing. Conductive-bridge random access memory (CBRAM) - which involves voltage driven formation and dissolution of Cu or Ag filaments in a Cu (or Ag) anode/dielectric (HfO2 or Al2O3)/inert cathode device - possesses the necessary attributes to fit the requirements. Cu and Ag are, however, fast diffusers and known contaminants in silicon microelectronics. Herein, employing a criterion for electrode metal selection applicable to cationic filamentary devices and using first principles calculations for estimating diffusion barriers in HfO2, we identify tin (Sn) as a rational, silicon CMOS compatible replacement for Cu and Ag anodes in CBRAM devices. We then experimentally fabricate Sn based CBRAM devices and demonstrate very fast, steep-slope memory switching as well as threshold switching, comparable to Cu or Ag based devices. Furthermore, time evolution of the cationic filament formation along with the switching mechanism is discussed based on time domain measurements (I vs. t) carried out under constant voltage stress. The time to threshold is shown to be a function of both the voltage stress (Vstress) as well as the initial leakage current (I0) through the device.