SiO
N
films with different oxygen concentrations were fabricated by reactive magnetron sputtering, and the resistive switching characteristics and conduction mechanism of Cu/SiO
N
/ITO devices were investigated. The Cu/SiO
N
/ITO device with SiO
N
deposited in 0.8-sccm O
flow shows a reliable resistive switching behavior, including good endurance and retention properties. As the conductivity of SiO
N
increases with the increase of the oxygen content dynamical electron trapping and detrapping is suggested to be the conduction mechanism. The temperature dependent I–V measurement indicates that the carrier transport can be ascribed to the hopping conduction rather than the metallic conductive filament.