2D Nanovaristors at Grain Boundaries Account for Memristive Switching in Polycrystalline BiFeO3

Shen, Xiao; Yin, Kuibo; Puzyrev, Yevgeniy S.; Liu, Yiwei; Sun, Litao; Li, Run-Wei; Pantelides, Sokrates T.

doi:10.1002/aelm.201500019

Title: 2D Nanovaristors at Grain Boundaries Account for Memristive Switching in Polycrystalline BiFeO₃

Journal Article · 20 March 2015 · Advanced Electronic Materials

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/aelm.201500019 · OSTI ID:1597678

Shen, Xiao ^[1]; Yin, Kuibo ^[2]; Puzyrev, Yevgeniy S. ^[1]; Liu, Yiwei ^[3]; Sun, Litao ^[4]; Li, Run-Wei ^[3]; Pantelides, Sokrates T. ^[5]

Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Southeast Univ., Nanjing (China). SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab. of MEMS of Ministry of Education; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Ningbo Zhejiang (China). Key Lab. of Magnetic Materials and Devices, Ningbo Inst. of Materials Technology and Engineering
Southeast Univ., Nanjing (China). SEU-FEI Nano-Pico Center, Key Lab. of MEMS of Ministry of Education
Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

Memristive switching in polycrystalline materials is widely attributed to the formation and rupture of conducting filaments, believed to be mediated by oxygen-vacancy redistribution. The underlying atomic-scale processes are still unknown, however, which limits device modeling and design. Here, experimental data are combined with multiscale calculations to elucidate the entire atomic-scale cycle in undoped polycrystalline BiFeO3. Conductive atomic force microscopy reveals that the grain boundaries behave like 2D nanovaristors, while on the return part of the cycle, the decreasing current is through the grains. Using density-functional-theory and Monte Carlo calculations, the atomic-scale mechanism of the observed phenomena is deduced. Oxygen vacancies in nonequilibrium concentrations are initially distributed relatively uniformly, but they are swept into the grain boundaries by an increasing voltage. A critical voltage, the SET voltage, then eliminates the barrier for hopping conduction through vacancy energy levels in grain boundaries. On the return part of the cycle, the grain boundaries are again nonconductive, but the grains show nonzero conductivity by virtue of remote doping by oxygen vacancies. The RESET voltage amounts to a heat pulse that redistributes the vacancies. The realization that nanovaristors are at the heart of memristive switching in polycrystalline materials may open possibilities for novel devices and circuits.

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Research Organization:: Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); McMinn Endowment

Grant/Contract Number:: FG02-09ER46554; 11204034; BK2012123; BK2012024; 61274114; 113279028; 11474295

OSTI ID:: 1597678

Journal Information:: Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 1, Issue 5; ISSN 2199-160X

Publisher:: WileyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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