Effect of Work Function Difference Between Top and Bottom Electrodes on the Resistive Switching Properties of SiN Films

Abstract

In this letter, the effect of the work function difference between various top electrodes (TE-Ni, W, Ti, and Al) and the Pt bottom electrode, M , on the resistive switching (RS) of SiN thin films was investigated. The cells with W and Ti TEs showed stable RS, but others failed to show RS. In particular, the Ti TE exhibited low operating currents (∼2 μA) and good retention properties (< ∼10 4 s at 85°C). On the basis of the analysis of conduction mechanisms, it is found that stable RS of SiN films might be strongly related to the activation energy of traps induced by M . Thus, the RS properties of the SiN films can be improved by engineering M without additional processes.Index Terms-Activation energy of traps, resistive random access memories (RRAM), resistive switching, silicon nitride, work function difference.

a-SiNx:H-based ultra-low power resistive random access memory with tunable Si dangling bond conduction paths

“…For devices with x = 0.62–0.93, the programming current can be reduced from 1 mA to 10 μA. This value is close to that previously reported for SiN x -based RRAM 9 10 . The current also decreases further with increasing x, reaching a very low value of less than 1 μA when x = 1.17.…”

“…In contrast to resistive switching memories based on high-k materials, resistive switching (RS) in low power Si-based devices is a more attractive and promising prospect because of the full compatibility of these devices with traditional complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) technology. Among the available Si-based RRAM materials, amorphous-SiN x (a-SiN x ) films exhibit more stable RS behavior at lower operating voltages than conventional SiO x films 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 . It should be noted that the programming currents of a-SiN x -based devices are higher (~100 μA) because high numbers of random traps make the pristine a-SiN x films leakier.…”

Internal Photoemission Metrology of Inhomogeneous Interface Barriers

“…Furthermore, V bi remains applied even if the external power supply is turned off. In this case, particularly relevant for non‐volatile memory devices, the electrode WF difference affects not only the cell set/reset characteristics as has already been reported for resistive switching memory stacks but, also, the retention behavior since a non‐zero electric field influences the stability of the conducting filament. Taking into account that the WF difference between electrodes can easily reach 1 eV while “stress” and “read” bias voltages of 0.2 and 0.1 V are used in the reliability tests, respectively, the impact of V bi on the memory cell operation can hardly be ignored.…”

Scaling Effect on Silicon Nitride Memristor with Highly Doped Si Substrate

“…The dopant profile of the silicon surface was confirmed using process simulation in Figure S1 (Supporting Information). Next, a 5 nm thick SiN x switching layer (SL) was deposited onto the p + ‐Si using low‐pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) by reacting SiH 2 Cl 2 (50 sccm) and NH 3 (300 sccm) at 770 °C and 250 mTorr . Immediately thereafter, a 100 nm thick Ti TE was deposited onto the surface using a DC sputtering system.…”