Direct Evidence of Lithium Ion Migration in Resistive Switching of Lithium Cobalt Oxide Nanobatteries

• Published in: Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany) Vol. 14; no. 24; pp. e1801038 - n/a
• Main Authors: Nguyen, Van Son, Mai, Van Huy, Auban Senzier, Pascale, Pasquier, Claude, Wang, Kang, Rozenberg, Marcelo J., Brun, Nathalie, March, Katia, Jomard, François, Giapintzakis, John, Mihailescu, Cristian N., Kyriakides, Evripides, Nukala, Pavan, Maroutian, Thomas, Agnus, Guillaume, Lecoeur, Philippe, Matzen, Silvia, Aubert, Pascal, Franger, Sylvain, Salot, Raphaël, Albouy, Pierre‐Antoine, Alamarguy, David, Dkhil, Brahim, Chrétien, Pascal, Schneegans, Olivier
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Germany Wiley Subscription Services, Inc 14.06.2018; Wiley-VCH Verlag
• Subjects: Cobalt; Cobalt oxides; Computer simulation; Condensed Matter; Endurance; Engineering Sciences; Ion migration; Ions; Lithium; Lithium compounds; Lithium ions; Lithium-ion batteries; Materials; Materials Science; Micro and nanotechnologies; Microelectronics; Nanoelectronics; Nanotechnology; nonvolatile memories; oxides; Physics; resistive switching; Secondary ion mass spectroscopy; Switching; thin films; lithium-ion batteries; nonvolatile memories; resistive switching; oxides; thin films; thin film; lithium‐ion batteries
• DOI: 10.1002/smll.201801038
• ISSN: 1613-6810

Lithium cobalt oxide nanobatteries offer exciting prospects in the field of nonvolatile memories and neuromorphic circuits. However, the precise underlying resistive switching (RS) mechanism remains a matter of debate in two‐terminal cells. Herein, intriguing results, obtained by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) 3D imaging, clearly demonstrate that the RS mechanism corresponds to lithium migration toward the outside of the LixCoO2 layer. These observations are very well correlated with the observed insulator‐to‐metal transition of the oxide. Besides, smaller device area experimentally yields much faster switching kinetics, which is qualitatively well accounted for by a simple numerical simulation. Write/erase endurance is also highly improved with downscaling – much further than the present cycling life of usual lithium‐ion batteries. Hence very attractive possibilities can be envisaged for this class of materials in nanoelectronics. The intriguing resistive switching mechanism of LixCoO2‐based nanobatteries is determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) 3D imaging. Lithium migrates outside the oxide layer: this yields a decrease of stoichiometry (x) of LixCoO2, which undergoes a semiconductor‐to‐metal transition observed by measuring the temperature‐dependence of device conductivity.