Bipolar resistive switching characteristics of Al-doped zinc tin oxide for nonvolatile memory applications

Resistive random access memory using Al-doped zinc tin oxide (AZTO) as resistive switching layer was prepared by radio-frequency magnetron sputtering at room temperature. The Ti/AZTO/Pt device exhibits reversible and robust bi-stable resistance switching behavior over hundreds of switching cycles within 2 V sweep voltage. The Ti/AZTO/Pt device showed stable retention characteristics for over 104 s under read disturb stress condition. Besides, the electrical conduction mechanism was dominated by ohmic conduction in low resistance state, while the current transport behavior followed a trap-controlled space-charge-limited conduction process in high resistance state. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4742737]