Resistive switching phenomena of tungsten nitride thin films with excellent CMOS compatibility

•The resistive switching characteristics of WNx thin films.•Excellent CMOS compatibility WNx films as a resistive switching material.•Resistive switching mechanism revealed trap-controlled space charge limited conduction.•Good endurance and retention properties over 105 cycles, and 105 s, respectively

We report the resistive switching (RS) characteristics of tungsten nitride (WNx) thin films with excellent complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) compatibility. A Ti/WNx/Pt memory cell clearly shows bipolar RS behaviors at a low voltage of approximately ±2.2 V. The dominant conduction mechanisms at low and high resistance states were verified by Ohmic behavior and trap-controlled space-charge-limited conduction, respectively. A conducting filament model by a redox reaction explains the RS behavior in WNx films. We also demonstrate the memory characteristics during pulse operation, including a high endurance over >105 cycles and a long retention time of >105 s.

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