Resistive switching behaviors of Cu/TaOx/TiN device with combined oxygen vacancy/copper conductive filaments

•The self-compliant resistive switching behavior was observed in CBRAM.•The forming-free resistive switching characteristic was observed in CBRAM.•Above resistive switching behaviors could be achieved from fully CMOS compatible materials.•The RS was operated by oxygen vacancies and Cu hybrid conductive filaments.

Forming-free and self-compliant bipolar resistive switching is observed in Cu/TaOx/TiN conductive bridge random access memory. Generally, Pt has been investigated as an inert electrode. However, Pt is not desirable material in current semiconductor industry for mass production. In this study, all electrodes are adapted to complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor compatible materials. The self-compliant resistive switching is achieved via usage of TiN bottom electrode. Also, dissolved Cu ions in TaOx lead to forming-free resistive switching behavior. The resistive switching mechanism is formation and rupture of combined oxygen vacancy/metallic copper conductive filament. We propose that Cu/TaOx/TiN is a promising candidate for a conductive bridge random access memory structure.