Authors:
Martial Duchamp Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

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Vadim Migunov Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

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Amir H. Tavabi Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

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Adnan Mehonic Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

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Mark Buckwell Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

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Manveer Munde Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

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Anthony J. Kenyon Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

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Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

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Open access

Silicon oxide-based resistive switching devices show great potential for applications in nonvolatile random access memories. We expose a device to voltages above hard breakdown and show that hard oxide breakdown results in mixing of the SiOx layer and the TiN lower contact layers. We switch a similar device at sub-breakdown fields in situ in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) using a movable probe and study the diffusion mechanism that leads to resistance switching. By recording bright-field (BF) TEM movies while switching the device, we observe the creation of a filament that is correlated with a change in conductivity of the SiOx layer. We also examine a device prepared on a microfabricated chip and show that variations in electrostatic potential in the SiOx layer can be recorded using off-axis electron holography as the sample is switched in situ in the TEM. Taken together, the visualization of compositional changes in ex situ stressed samples and the simultaneous observation of BF TEM contrast variations, a conductivity increase, and a potential drop across the dielectric layer in in situ switched devices allow us to conclude that nucleation of the electroforming—switching process starts at the interface between the SiOx layer and the lower contact.

  • 1.

    Saleh MN , Venkatachalam DK, Elliman RG: Effect of crystallization on the reliability of unipolar resistive-switching in HfO2-based dielectrics. Curr Appl Phys 14, S88S92 (2014)

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  • 2.

    Waser R , Dittmann R, Staikov G, Szot K: Redox-based resistive switching memories — nanoionic mechanisms, prospects, and challenges. Adv Mater 21, 26322663 (2009)

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  • 3.

    Strukov DB , Alibart F, Williams RS: Thermophoresis/diffusion as a plausible mechanism for unipolar resistive switching in metal–oxide–metal memristors. Appl Phys A 107, 509518 (2012)

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  • 4.

    Jeong DS , Schroeder H, Waser R: Coexistence of bipolar and unipolar resistive switching behaviors in a Pt/TiO2/Pt stack. Electrochem Solid-State Lett 10, G51G53 (2007)

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  • 5.

    Schindler C , Thermadam SCP, Waser R, Kozicki MN: Bipolar and unipolar resistive switching in Cu-doped SiO2. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 54, 27622768 (2007)

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  • 6.

    Yao J , Sun Z, Zhong L, Natelson D, Tour JM: Resistive switches and memories from silicon oxide. Nano Lett 10, 41054110 (2010)

  • 7.

    Mehonic A , Cueff S, Wojdak M, Hudziak S, Jambois O, Labbé C, Garrido B, Rizk R, Kenyon AJ: Resistive switching in silicon suboxide films, J. Appl. Phys. 111, 74507 (2012)

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  • 8.

    Mehonic A , Cueff S, Wojdak M, Hudziak S, Labbé C, Rizk R, Kenyon AJ: Electrically tailored resistance switching in silicon oxide, Nanotechnology. 23, 455201 (2012)

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  • 9.

    Chen J-Y , Hsin C-L, Huang C-W, Chiu C-H, Huang Y-T, Lin S-J, Wu W-W, Chen L-J: Chen, Dynamic Evolution of Conducting Nanofilament in Resistive Switching Memories. Nano Lett. 13, 3671 (2013)

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  • 10.

    Buckwell M , Montesi L, Hudziak S, Mehonic A, Kenyon AJ: Conductance tomography of conductive filaments in intrinsic silicon-rich silica RRAM. Nanoscale 7, 18030 (2015)

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  • 11.

    Privitera S , Bersuker G, Butcher B, Kalantarian A, Lombardo S, Bongiorno C, Geer R, Gilmer DC, Kirsch PD: Microscopy study of the conductive filament in HfO2 resistive switching memory devices, Microelectron. Eng. 109, 75 (2013)

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  • 12.

    Lee D , Sung Y, Lee I, Kim J, Sohn H, Ko D-H: Enhanced bipolar resistive switching of HfO2 with a Ti interlayer, Appl. Phys. A. 102, 997 (2011)

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  • 13.

    Kamaladasa RJ , Sharma AA, Lai Y-T, Chen W, Salvador PA, Bain JA, Skowronski M, Picard YN: In situ TEM Imaging of Defect Dynamics under Electrical Bias in Resistive Switching Rutile-TiO2, Microsc. Microanal. 21, 140 (2015)

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  • 14.

    Yang Y , Gao P, Gaba S, Chang T, Pan X, Lu W: Observation of conducting filament growth in nanoscale resistive memories, Nat. Commun. 3, 732 (2012)

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  • 15.

    Fujii T , AritaM, Takahashi Y, Fujiwara I: In situ transmission electron microscopy analysis of conductive filament during solid electrolyte resistance switching. Appl Phys Lett 98, 212104 (2011)

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  • 16.

    Tian X , Yang S, Zeng M, Wang L, Wei J, Xu Z, Wang W, Bai X: Bipolar Electrochemical Mechanism for Mass Transfer in Nanoionic Resistive Memories, Adv. Mater. 26, 3649 (2014)

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  • 17.

    Yao J , Sun Z, Zhong L, Natelson D, Tour JM: Resistive Switches and Memories from Silicon Oxide, Nat Comm 4, 2764 (2013)

  • 18.

    Buckwell M , Montesi L, Mehonic A, Reza O, Garnett L, Munde M, Hudziak S, Kenyon AJ: Microscopic and spectroscopic analysis of the nature of conductivity changes during resistive switching in silicon-rich silicon oxide, Phys. Status Solidi C. 12, 211 (2015)

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  • 19.

    Migunov V , Ryll H, Zhuge X, Simson M, Strüder L, Batenburg KJ, Houben L, Dunin-Borkowski RE: Rapid low dose electron tomography using a direct electron detection camera, Sci. Rep. 5, 14516 (2015)

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  • 20.

    Wedig A , Luebben M, Cho D-Y, Moors M, Skaja K, Rana V, Hasegawa T, Adepalli KK, Yildiz B, Waser R, Valov I: Nanoscale cation motion in TaOx, HfOx and TiOx memristive systems. Nat Nanotechnol 11, 67 (2015)

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  • 21.

    Mehonic A , Buckwell M, Montesi L, Garnett L, Hudziak S, Fearn S, Chater R, McPhail D, Kenyon AJ: Structural changes and conductance thresholds in metal-free intrinsic SiOx resistive random access memory. J Appl Phys 117, 124505 (2015)

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  • 22.

    Duchamp M , den Hertog M, Imlau R, Boothroyd CB, Kovacs A, Tavabi AH, Dunin-Borkowski RE: Focused ion beam specimen preparation for electron holography of electrically biased thin film solar cells, in: Rachel R (Ed.), Microsc. Conf. MC2013 Regensbg. Ger. 25-30 August 2013, Regensburg, 2013: pp. 242243. http://epub.uniregensburg.de/28734/1/MC2013_Proceedings_Part_I.pdf.

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  • 23.

    Duchamp M , Xu Q, Dunin-Borkowski RE: Convenient Preparation of High-Quality Specimens for Annealing Experiments in the Transmission Electron Microscope, Microsc. Microanal. 20, 1638 (2014)

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  • 24.

    Migunov V , London A, Farle M, Dunin-Borkowski RE: Model-independent measurement of the charge density distribution along an Fe atom probe needle using off-axis electron holography without mean inner potential effects. J. Appl. Phys. 117, 134301 (2015)

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Senior editors

Editor(s)-in-Chief: Béla Pécz

Managing Editor(s): Katalin Balázsi

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Rafal Dunin-Borkowski
(for theory and microscopy techniques)

Co-Editor-in-Chief: Pavel Hozak
(for biomedical sciences)

Editorial Board

  • Filippo Giannazzo - Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR), Institute for Microelectronics and Microsystems (IMM), Catania, Italy
  • Werner Grogger - FELMI, Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria
  • János Lábár - Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science, Centre for Energy Research, Hungary
  • Erik Manders - Faculty of Science, SILS, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • Ohad Medalia - Department of Biochemistry, Zürich University, Zürich, Switzerland
  • Péter Németh - Institute for Geological and Geochemical Research, Budapest, Hungary
  • Rainer Pepperkok - EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
  • Aleksander Recnik - J. Stefan Institute, Ljubljana, Slovenia
  • Sara Sandin - Division of Structural Biology & Biochemistry, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
  • Nobuo Tanaka - Electron microscope Lab., Ecotopia Science Institute and Dept. of Applied Physics, Nagoya University, Japan
  • Paul Verkade - Wolfson Bioimaging Facility, Schools of Biochemistry and Physiology & Pharmacology, Biomedical Sciences Building, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Dr Pécz, Béla
Resolution and Discovery
Institute of Technical Physics and Materials Science
Centre for Energy Research
H-1525 Budapest, PO Box 49, Hungary
E-mail: pecz.bela@ek-cer.hu

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Resolution and Discovery
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Online only
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Resolution and Discovery
Language English
Size A4
Year of
Foundation
2015
Volumes
per Year
1
Issues
per Year
 
Founder Akadémiai Kiadó
Founder's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Publisher Akadémiai Kiadó
Publisher's
Address
H-1117 Budapest, Hungary 1516 Budapest, PO Box 245.
Responsible
Publisher
Chief Executive Officer, Akadémiai Kiadó
ISSN 2498-8707 (Online)

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