Resolution and Discovery
Volume/Issue:
Volume 1: Issue 1
In situ transmission electron microscopy of resistive switching in thin silicon oxide layers
Authors:
Martial Duchamp Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

Search for other papers by Martial Duchamp in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Vadim Migunov Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

Search for other papers by Vadim Migunov in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Amir H. Tavabi Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

Search for other papers by Amir H. Tavabi in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Adnan Mehonic Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

Search for other papers by Adnan Mehonic in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Mark Buckwell Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

Search for other papers by Mark Buckwell in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Manveer Munde Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

Search for other papers by Manveer Munde in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
,
Anthony J. Kenyon Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, University College London, Torrington Place, London WC1E 7JE, United Kingdom

Search for other papers by Anthony J. Kenyon in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
, and
Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons and Peter Grünberg Institute, Forschungszentrum Jülich D-52425 Jülich, Germany

Search for other papers by Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed Close
Pages:
27–33
Online Publication Date:
Nov 2016
Publication Date:
01 Nov 2016
Article Category:
Research Article
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.1556/2051.2016.00036
Keywords:
Resistive switching SiOx
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, S88–S92 (2014)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 2.

    Waser R , Dittmann R, Staikov G, Szot K: Redox-based resistive switching memories — nanoionic mechanisms, prospects, and challenges. Adv Mater 21, 2632–2663 (2009)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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, 509–518 (2012)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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, G51–G53 (2007)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 5.

    Schindler C , Thermadam SCP, Waser R, Kozicki MN: Bipolar and unipolar resistive switching in Cu-doped SiO2. IEEE Trans Electron Devices 54, 2762–2768 (2007)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 6.

    Yao J , Sun Z, Zhong L, Natelson D, Tour JM: Resistive switches and memories from silicon oxide. Nano Lett 10, 4105–4110 (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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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. 242–243. http://epub.uniregensburg.de/28734/1/MC2013_Proceedings_Part_I.pdf.

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • 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)

    • Search Google Scholar
    • Export Citation
  • Collapse
  • Expand
Cover Resolution and Discovery
Resolution and Discovery
Online ISSN:
2498-8707

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

Indexing and Abstracting Services:

  • DOAJ
  • CABELLS Journalytics

 

 

Resolution and Discovery
Publication Model Gold Open Access
Online only
Submission Fee none
Article Processing Charge none
Subscription Information Gold Open Access

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)

Monthly Content Usage

Abstract Views Full Text Views PDF Downloads
Oct 2024 0 136 4
Nov 2024 0 31 2
Dec 2024 0 13 3
Jan 2025 0 49 12
Feb 2025 0 55 5
Mar 2025 0 56 1
Apr 2025 0 0 0