Resistive switching mechanisms in random access memory devices incorporating transition metal oxides: TiO2, NiO and Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3

Resistance change random access memory (RRAM) cells, typically built as MIM capacitor structures, consist of insulating layers I sandwiched between metal layers M, where the insulator performs the resistance switching operation. These devices can be electrically switched between two or more stable resistance states at a speed of nanoseconds, with long retention times, high switching endurance, low read voltage, and large switching windows. They are attractive candidates for next-generation non-volatile memory, particularly as a flash successor, as the material properties can be scaled to the nanometer regime. Several resistance switching models have been suggested so far for transition metal oxide based devices, such as charge trapping, conductive filament formation, Schottky barrier modulation, and electrochemical migration of point defects. The underlying fundamental principles of the switching mechanism still lack a detailed understanding, i.e. how to control and modulate the electrical characteristics of devices incorporating defects and impurities, such as oxygen vacancies, metal interstitials, hydrogen, and other metallic atoms acting as dopants. In this paper, state of the art ab initio theoretical methods are employed to understand the effects that filamentary types of stable oxygen vacancy configurations in TiO2 and NiO have on the electronic conduction. It is shown that strong electronic interactions between metal ions adjacent to oxygen vacancy sites results in the formation of a conductive path and thus can explain the 'ON' site conduction in these materials. Implication of hydrogen doping on electroforming is discussed for Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 devices based on electrical characterization and FTIR measurements.