Resistive switching of a TaOx/TaON double layer via ionic control of carrier tunneling

Abstract

Resistance random access memory (RRAM) is an attractive candidate for future non-volatile memory due to its superior features. As the oxide thickness is scaled down, the charge transport mechanism is also subject to the transition from hopping to tunneling dominant process, which is critically related to the interfacial electronic band structure. A TaOx/TaON double layer-based RRAM is fabricated and characterized in this work. Upon TaON insertion at the lower interface, the improved switching behavior is observed. The TaON at the bottom electrode interface blocks oxygen vacancy percolation due to strong N-O bonds and also modifies interfacial band alignment to lower the injected electron energy from bottom electrode due to higher tunneling barrier height than that of TaOx/Pt. This study suggested that a defect-minimized insertion layer like TaON with a proper interfacial band alignment is pivotal in RRAM for the effective ionic control of carrier tunneling resulting in non-linear I-V behavior with improved properties. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.