The enhancement of unipolar resistive switching behavior via an amorphous TiOx layer formation in Dy2O3-based forming-free RRAM

• A thin Ti layer embedding improved the resistive switching behaviors of Dy2O3 RRAM.
• We used XPS and HRTEM to study the origin of the electrical properties.
• The a-TiOx layer formation changed the oxygen defects distribution in Dy2O3.

We present effects of an amorphous TiOx layer formation on the behavior of a unipolar resistive switching memory device, which consists of Pt/Ti embedding layer (Ti-EL)/Dy2O3/Pt structure. The better properties have been obtained from the Pt/Ti-EL/Dy2O3/Pt system, including lower switching voltage, higher switching uniformity, and better endurance, besides, a reversed set/reset process is observed, in comparison with Pt/Dy2O3/Pt device. It is considered that the spontaneous formation of an amorphous TiOx layer and Ti–Pt–O nano-crystal clusters from Ti layer between Pt top electrode and Dy2O3 film is the main factor for the improvement of unipolar resistive switching behavior.