Improving Performance by Inserting an Indium Oxide Layer as an Oxygen Ion Storage Layer in HfO₂-Based Resistive Random Access Memory

• Published in: IEEE transactions on electron devices 2021-03, Vol.68 (3), p.1037-1040
• Main Authors: Lin, Shih-Kai, Wu, Cheng-Hsien, Chang, Ting-Chang, Lien, Chen-Hsin, Yang, Chih-Cheng, Chen, Wen-Chung, Lin, Chun-Chu, Huang, Wei-Chen, Tan, Yung-Fang, Wu, Pei-Yu, Zhang, Yong-Ci, Sun, Li-Chuan, Sze, Simon M.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deposition; Electric potential; Hafnium oxide; High resistance; Indium oxide; Indium oxides; Ion storage; Ions; Low resistance; oxygen ion reservoir; Oxygen ions; Performance evaluation; Random access memory; Resistance; resistive random access memory (RRAM); Switches; Tin; Voltage
• ISSN: 0018-9383; 1557-9646
• DOI: 10.1109/TED.2021.3053502

This study investigates an improvement in memory characteristics through depositing an In 2 O 3 layer as an oxygen ion reservoir in the switching layer (SL) of resistive random access memory (RRAM). The deposition of In 2 O 3 , denoted as Pt/HfO 2 /In 2 O 3 /TiN device, provides better memory characteristics including lower forming voltage ( {V}_{F} ), set/reset voltage ( {V}_{\mathrm {SET}}/{V}_{\mathrm {RESET}} ), larger memory window, and higher resistances with higher uniformity at low resistance state (LRS) and high resistance state (HRS), compared to the devices without the In 2 O 3 deposition, denoted as Pt/HfO 2 /TiN device. The conduction mechanisms, verified through fitting current-voltage ( {I} - {V} ) curves, are consistent with the results of a varied temperature {I} - {V} experiment. Finally, a physical model is proposed to explain our observations.