Sub-10 nm Ta Channel Responsible for Superior Performance of a HfO2 Memristor

Jiang, Hao; Han, Lili; Lin, Peng; Wang, Zhongrui; Jang, Moon Hyung; Wu, Qing; Barnell, Mark; Yang, J. Joshua; Xin, Huolin L.; Xia, Qiangfei

doi:10.1038/srep28525

Title: Sub-10 nm Ta Channel Responsible for Superior Performance of a HfO₂ Memristor

Journal Article · Thu Jun 23 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Scientific Reports

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28525· OSTI ID:1336120

Jiang, Hao ^[1]; Han, Lili ^[2]; Lin, Peng ^[1]; Wang, Zhongrui ^[3]; Jang, Moon Hyung ^[3]; Wu, Qing ^[4]; Barnell, Mark ^[4]; Yang, J. Joshua ^[3]; Xin, Huolin L. ^[5]; Xia, Qiangfei ^[1]

Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering; Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials
Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA (United States). Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Ionic and Electronic Device and Materials Lab.
Information Directorate, Rome, NY (United States). Air Force Research Lab.
Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States). Center for Functional Nanomaterials

Memristive devices are promising candidates for the next generation non-volatile memory and neuromorphic computing. It has been widely accepted that the motion of oxygen anions leads to the resistance changes for valence-change-memory (VCM) type of materials. Only very recently it was speculated that metal cations could also play an important role, but no direct physical characterizations have been reported yet. We report a Ta/HfO₂/Pt memristor with fast switching speed, record high endurance (120 billion cycles) and reliable retention. We also programmed the device to 24 discrete resistance levels, and also demonstrated over a million (220) epochs of potentiation and depression, suggesting that our devices can be used for both multi-level non-volatile memory and neuromorphic computing applications. More importantly, we directly observed a sub-10 nm Ta-rich and O-deficient conduction channel within the HfO₂ layer that is responsible for the switching. Our work deepens our understanding of the resistance switching mechanism behind oxide-based memristive devices and paves the way for further device performance optimization for a broad spectrum of applications.

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Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC00112704

OSTI ID:: 1336120

Report Number(s):: BNL-112580-2016-JA; R&D Project: 16060; 16060; KC0403020

Journal Information:: Scientific Reports, Vol. 6; ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 128 works

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