Effect of AC pulse overshoot on nonlinearity and reliability of selectorless resistive random access memory in AC pulse operation

•The influence of current overshoot on selector-less ReRAM.•Current overshoot, which is by parasitic RC enlarges filament.•Large filament reduces the effective thickness of the tunnel barrier.•The reduced tunnel barrier results in poor non-linearity.•Therefore, current overshoot must be removed in selector-less ReRAM.

The effect of AC pulse engineering on the nonlinearity and reliability of selectorless resistive random access memory was investigated in order to implement a high-density cross-point array. Applying an AC pulse bias can induce current overshoot during resistive switching, owing to the parasitic capacitance and resistance of the measuring equipment. We observed that the nonlinearity of the selectorless resistive random access memory was dependent on the current overshoot of the set pulse, whereas the programming/erasing endurance was determined by the current overshoot of the reset pulse. The current overshoot is very sensitive to AC pulse conditions, and it degrades device performance and reliability. Therefore, the AC pulse shape was engineered to eliminate current overshoot resulting from parasitic factors and to achieve reliable nonlinearity and endurance of the selectorless resistive random access memory.