Origin of resistivity change in NiO thin films studied by hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy

Journal Article · Wed Jun 15 00:00:00 EDT 2011 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3596809· OSTI ID:21538465

Calka, P; Martinez, E; Lafond, D; Minoret, S; Guedj, C ^[1]; Tirano, S ^[2]; Detlefs, B; Roy, J; Zegenhagen, J ^[3]

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1. CEA-LETI, MINATEC Campus, 38054 Grenoble Cedex 9 (France)
2. IM2NP, UMR CNRS 6242, Polytech' Marseille, Universite de Provence, F-13451 Marseille Cedex 20 (France)
3. European Synchrotron Radiation Facility, BP 220, F38043 Grenoble (France)

We investigated origins of the resistivity change during the forming of NiO based resistive random access memories in a nondestructive way using hard x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Energy shifts and bandgap states observed after switching suggest that oxygen vacancies are created in the low resistive state. As a result conduction may occur via defects such as electrons traps and metallic nickel impurities. Migration of oxygen atoms seems to be the driving mechanism. This provides concrete evidence of the major role played by oxygen defects in decreasing resistivity. This is a key point since oxygen vacancies are particularly unstable and thus difficult to identify by physico-chemical analyses.

• OSTI ID: 21538465
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 109; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
CAVITIES
CHALCOGENIDES
CRYSTAL DEFECTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
CRYSTALS
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
ENERGY GAP
FILMS
HARD X RADIATION
IMPURITIES
INTERACTIONS
IONIZING RADIATIONS
NICKEL COMPOUNDS
NICKEL OXIDES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
POINT DEFECTS
RADIATIONS
SPECTROSCOPY
STRAINS
STRUCTURAL MODELS
THIN FILMS
THREE-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
TRANSITION ELEMENT COMPOUNDS
TRAPS
VACANCIES
X RADIATION
X-RAY PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY