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Title: Direct observation of delithiation as the origin of analog memristance in LixNbO2

Journal Article · · APL Materials
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5108525· OSTI ID:1559938
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  1. Binghamton Univ., Binghamton, NY (United States)
  2. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Georgia Inst. of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  4. Diamond Light Source Ltd., Oxfordshire (United Kingdom)
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

The discovery of analog LixNbO2 memristors revealed a promising new memristive mechanism wherein the diffusion of Li+ rather than O2- ions enables precise control of the resistive states. However, directly correlating lithium concentration with changes to the electronic structure in active layers remains a challenge and is required to truly understand the underlying physics. Chemically delithiated single crystals of LiNbO2 present a model system for correlating lithium variation with spectroscopic signatures from operando soft x-ray spectroscopy studies of device active layers. Using electronic structure modeling of the x-ray spectroscopy of LixNbO2 single crystals, we demonstrate that the intrinsic memristive behavior in LixNbO2 active layers results from field-induced degenerate p-type doping. We show that electrical operation of LixNbO2-based memristors is viable even at marginal Li deficiency and that the analog memristive switching occurs well before the system is fully metallic. This study serves as a benchmark for material synthesis and characterization of future LixNbO2-based memristor devices and suggests that valence change switching is a scalable alternative that circumvents the electroforming typically required for filamentary-based memristors.

Research Organization:
Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) - Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Fulbright Program; National Science Foundation (NSF); Diamond Light Source, UK; Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL); Argonne National Laboratory - Advanced Photon Source; Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) - National Synchrotron Light Source II; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-06CH11357; SC0012704; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1559938
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1532798; OSTI ID: 1594923
Journal Information:
APL Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 7; ISSN 2166-532X
Publisher:
American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 9 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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  • Wang, Yuhan; Comes, Ryan B.; Kittiwatanakul, Salinporn
  • Journal of Vacuum Science & Technology A: Vacuum, Surfaces, and Films, Vol. 33, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1116/1.4906143
journal March 2015
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Emerging materials in neuromorphic computing: Guest editorial journal January 2020