Intrinsic resistance switching in amorphous silicon oxide for high performance SiOx ReRAM devices

- Intrinsic bipolar resistance switching in silicon oxide ReRAM devices with very high cycling endurance is presented.
- Columnar growth of amorphous silicon oxide films enhances resistance switching behavior.
- A rougher oxide-electrode interface promotes columnar growth.
- Rough interface can lead to more electrons being injected and the generation of Frenkel defects.

In this paper, we present a study of intrinsic bipolar resistance switching in metal-oxide-metal silicon oxide ReRAM devices. Devices exhibit low electroforming voltages (typically − 2.6 V), low switching voltages (± 1 V for setting and resetting), excellent endurance of > 107 switching cycles, good state retention (at room temperature and after 1 h at 260 °C), and narrow distributions of switching voltages and resistance states. We analyse the microstructure of amorphous silicon oxide films and postulate that columnar growth, which results from sputter-deposition of the oxide on rough surfaces, enhances resistance switching behavior.

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