Resistance switching memory operation using the bistability in current-voltage characteristics of GaN/AlN resonant tunneling diodes

Resistance switching memory operations using the bistability in the current-voltage (I-V) characteristics of GaN/AlN resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs) were investigated to realize an ultrafast nonvolatile memory operating at a picosecond time scale. Resistance switching memory operations based on electron accumulation due to intersubband transitions and electron release due to tunneling current were demonstrated with high reproducibility at room temperature when the leakage of electrons accumulating in the quantum well from the deep level in the AlN barrier was suppressed. A nonvolatile memory for the processor core in a normally off computing system is expected to be realized using the bistability in the I-V characteristics of GaN/AlN RTDs. (C) 2016 The Japan Society of Applied Physics