Resistive switching characteristics of ytterbium oxide thin film for nonvolatile memory application

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of both the positive and negative forming processes on the resistive switching characteristics of a Pt/Yb(2)O(3)/TiN RRAM device. The polarity of the forming process can determine the transition mechanism, either bipolar or unipolar. Bipolar behavior exists after the positive forming process, while unipolar behavior exists after the negative forming process. Furthermore, the bipolar switching characteristics of the Pt/Yb(2)O(3)/TiN device can be affected by using a reverse polarity forming treatment, which not only reduces the set and reset voltage, but also improves the on/off ratio. Crown Copyright (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.