Resistive switching of Cu/SiC/Au memory devices with a high ON/OFF ratio

• This paper presents non-volatile Cu/a-SiC/Au resistive memories (RMs).
• The fabricated Cu/a-SiC/Au RMs demonstrate non-volatile switching behaviours.
• These devices show one of the highest ON/OFF switching ratios reported to date.
• The Cu/a-SiC/Au RMs have also shown excellent retention and reliability.

Resistive memories (RMs) using amorphous SiC (a-SiC) as the solid electrolyte material have been developed with a Cu/a-SiC/Au stack configuration. Excellent non-volatile bipolar switching characteristics have been observed. An extremely high ON/OFF current ratio in the order of 109 has been observed corresponding to distinctive low (LRS) and high (HRS) resistance states, which is potentially beneficial for future RM applications with reliable state detection and simple periphery circuits. The deposited a-SiC has been extensively characterised for its micro/nanostructures, chemical composition as well as electrical properties. The switching mechanism is investigated through detailed analysis of corresponding I–V curves. The results imply a filamentary conduction mechanism at LRS and Schottky emission mechanism at HRS, especially in the subsequent switching cycles. The contrasting conducting material properties and mechanisms at LRS and HRS contribute to the high ON/OFF ratio. Overall, Cu/a-SiC based RMs demonstrate a number of high performance potentials.