Effect of crystallinity on the resistive switching behavior of HfAlOx films

In this work, we investigated the effect of the Al2O3 cyclic ratio and the annealing temperature on the crystallinity and the resistive switching behavior of HfO2 and HfAlOx cells. The microstructures of the HfO2 and the HfAlOx films were measured by using X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy in order to observe the dependencies of the electro-forming and resistive switching behaviors on the crystallinity. The formation of grain boundaries in connection with a microstructural change from an amorphous to a poly-crystalline phase is expected to be responsible for the leakage current and for the formation of conductive path formation.