The Effect of Humidity on Reducing Forming Voltage in Conductive-Bridge Random Access Memory With an Alloy Electrode

Abstract

This letter investigates Au30Ag70 (alloy electrode)/SiO2/TiN conductive-bridge random access memory (CBRAM) to verify the influence of ambient conditions on forming voltage (V-F) and the location of galvanic reaction. Previous literature demonstrates that the galvanic reaction in CBRAM with an alloy electrode results in a lower V-F. In this work, a higher environmental H2O concentration results in a decrease in V-F. From this change in VF, we infer that environmental H2O concentration influences the amount of galvanic reaction. Moreover, we verify the location of the galvanic reaction by varying electrode thickness. Finally, we propose a physical model to explain our observations.