Resistive switching properties and conduction mechanisms of LaSmOx thin film by RF sputtering for RRAM applications

• Published in: Materials science & engineering. B, Solid-state materials for advanced technology Vol. 271; p. 115313
• Main Authors: Chu, Yu-Tseng, Tsai, Meng-Hung, Huang, Cheng-Liang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Lausanne Elsevier B.V 01.09.2021; Elsevier BV
• Subjects: Annealing; Densification; Film thickness; LaSmOx; Polycrystalline; Post metal annealing; RF sputtering; RRAM; Sputtering; Switching; Thin films; Polycrystalline; RF sputtering; RRAM; LaSmOx; Post metal annealing
• ISSN: 0921-5107; 1873-4944
• DOI: 10.1016/j.mseb.2021.115313

[Display omitted] •Oxygen vacancies dominate the conduction mechanism of the LSO thin film.•The plasma gas influences the surface morphology, leading to change the RS stability.•The formation of AlOx interface has great effect on the RS performance. Polycrystalline LaSmOx (LSO) thin films were prepared by using RF sputtering and the bipolar resistive switching (BRS) properties in the Al/LSO/ITO structure were investigated. The impact of Ar/O2 ratio, film thickness and post metal annealing (PMA) condition on the resistive switching (RS) properties were also studied. The conductive mechanism is mainly dominated by the numbers of oxygen vacancies, which can be controlled through a different deposition atmosphere (Ar/O2) ratio and film thickness. In addition, the resistive switching characteristics can be improved by post metal annealing treatment due to film densification and the formation of AlOx interface layer in between the top electrode and the LaSmOx thin film. The optimized RRAM device revealed a profound improvement in the switching cycles, which can be as high as 4580.