Improvement of Resistive Switching Uniformity by Introducing a Thin GST Interface Layer

Abstract

Broad dispersions of operation parameters are generally observed with continuous resistive switching. In this letter, we explore a prototype resistive random access memory (RRAM) device for switching uniformity improvement. Compared with Al/Cu <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> O/Cu structure, by introducing a thin phase-change Ge <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> Sb <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> Te <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">5</sub> (GST) film between Cu <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">x</sub> O and Al top electrode, the device exhibits much better resistive hysteresis and switching uniformity. A combined filamentary conduction model is proposed to clarify the role of GST layer on the resistive switching stabilization.