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Title: Metallic filament formation by aligned oxygen vacancies in ZnO-based resistive switches

Journal Article · · Journal of Applied Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4879677· OSTI ID:22304349
 [1]
  1. School of Electrical Engineering, Shandong University, Jinan 250061 (China)

The electronic structure of ZnO with defects of oxygen vacancies were investigated by using first-principles methods. Some structure models were constructed in order to investigate the effects of the distribution of oxygen vacancies on the electronic properties of ZnO. By analyzing the calculated results, we found that only the aligned oxygen vacancies can form the conducting channel in ZnO, and the transformation of the oxygen vacancy from charged state to neutral state is consistent with the energetics rule of the forming aligned oxygen vacancies. As for the heterojunction of Pt/ZnO/Pt, the oxygen vacancies near the interface of Pt/ZnO depress the local Schottky barrier effectively, and the aligned oxygen vacancies in ZnO form a conducting filament connecting two Pt electrodes. The metallic filament formation in Pt/ZnO/Pt resistive switching cells should be closely related to the carrier injection from Pt electrode into ZnO and the arrangement of oxygen vacancies in ZnO slab.

OSTI ID:
22304349
Journal Information:
Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 115, Issue 20; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-8979
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English