Abstract
We developed a physical model to fundamentally understand the conductive filament (CF) formation and growth behavior in the switching layer during electroforming process in the metal-oxide-based resistive random-access memories (RRAM). The effects of the electrode and oxide layer properties on the CF morphology evolution, current-voltage characteristic, local temperature, and electrical potential distribution have been systematically explored. It is found that choosing active electrodes with lower oxygen vacancy formation energy and oxides with small Lorenz number (ratio of thermal and electrical conductivity) enables CF formation at a smaller electroforming voltage and creates a CF with more homogeneous morphology. This work advances our understanding of the kinetic behaviors of the CF formation and growth during the electroforming process and could potentially guide the oxide and electrode materials selection to realize a more stable and functional RRAM.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 76 |
| Journal | npj Computational Materials |
| Volume | 8 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 2022 |
Funding
K.Z. and Y.C. acknowledge the support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) under the award number NSF 2132105, and the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) at The University of Texas at Austin for providing HPC resources that have contributed to the research results reported within this paper ( http://www.tacc.utexas.edu ). Y.C. also acknowledges the startup funding from the University of Texas at Arlington. P.G. (physical model, analysis and interpretation) was supported by the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences, which is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.