Resistance switching properties of planner Ag/Li:NiO/Ag structures induced by swift heavy ion irradiation

Abstract

We report on the resistance switching induced by swift heavy ion (SHI) irradiation in lithium doped nanostructured NiO thin films grown on MgO (100) substrates by chemical solution deposition. Hysteresis in current-voltage curves were observed for the Ag/Li:NiO/Ag planner structures irradiated with 100 MeV Ag+14 ions, whereas pristine samples showed only linear I-V characteristics. No preferential oxygen loss from the film surface has been detected in on-line elastic recoil detection analysis. This suggests that change in the defect density created by SHI irradiation that may contribute to the metallic filaments play a major role as compared to the interfacial oxygen vacancies in resistance switching of NiO.