Ultra-Low Power Ni/HfO<sub>2</sub>/TiO<sub><italic>x</italic></sub>/TiN Resistive Random Access Memory With Sub-30-nA Reset Current

Abstract

In this letter, we report ultra-low power (sub-30-nA reset current, <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$I_{\mathrm {reset}})$ </tex-math></inline-formula> Ni/HfO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> /TiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>x</i></sub> /TiN RRAM devices that were fabricated with the rapid thermal oxidation of evaporated titanium. RRAM devices show forming-free, bipolar resistive switching behavior, low-resistive state (LRS) nonlinearity, good data retention, and stability. The resistive switching mechanism is mainly attributed to Schottky barrier modulation induced by <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\text{O}^{2-}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> migration at the Ni/HfO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> interface. LRS/high-resistive state current conduction is controlled by Schottky emission/trap-controlled space-charge-limited current. The TiO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><i>x</i></sub> film is believed to provide a local high-density current for the device, confirmed by conductive atomic force microscope results.