Reversible transitions among four modes of nonpolar resistive switching characteristics in nano-crystalline zinc ferrite magnetic thin films

Nano-crystalline zinc ferrite (ZnFe2O4) magnetic thin film was prepared on Pt/Ti/SiO2/Si substrate by chemical solution deposition method though spin coating technique. Reproducible nonpolar resistive switching (RS) characteristics in Pt/ZnFe2O4/Pt devices are reported. By changing the magnitude and polarity of the applied electric bias, reversible transitions among all the four nonpolar RS modes can be realized. For each switching mode, I-V characteristics were measured in the temperature range of 200 K-340 K. Temperature dependent I-V characteristics of high resistance state (HRS) have been found to support the conduction mechanism across the metal/insulator/metal (MIM) systems to be Schottky emission. Associated parameters such as activation energy and effective height of Schottky barrier at zero biasing (ϕo) have been evaluated at different temperature and electric field. In addition, the increase in resistance of low resistance state (LRS) with temperature revealed that the conduction through ZnFe2O4 in LRS is metallic. Based on the temperature-dependent characteristics, the reversible switching among the four modes of nonpolar RS via formation and rupture of the conducting filaments has been attributed to the joint effect of field-induced migration of oxygen vacancies and metallic Zn atoms.