Influence of Cu diffusion conditions on the switching of Cu–SiO 2-based resistive memory devices

• Published in: Thin solid films Vol. 518; no. 12; pp. 3293 - 3298
• Main Authors: Thermadam, S. Puthen, Bhagat, S.K., Alford, T.L., Sakaguchi, Y., Kozicki, M.N., Mitkova, M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 2010
• Subjects: compositional characteristics; copper diffusion; copper-doped silicon dioxide; nanoionic devices; non-volatile memory; silicon dioxide based memory; silicon dioxide based memory; copper diffusion; compositional characteristics; non-volatile memory; nanoionic devices; copper-doped silicon dioxide
• ISSN: 0040-6090; 1879-2731
• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsf.2009.09.021

This paper presents a study of Cu diffusion at various temperatures in thin SiO 2 films and the influence of diffusion conditions on the switching of Programmable Metallization Cell (PMC) devices formed from such Cu-doped films. Film composition and diffusion products were analyzed using secondary ion mass spectroscopy, Rutherford backscattering spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy methods. We found a strong dependence of the diffused Cu concentration, which varied between 0.8 at.% and 10 − 3 at.%, on the annealing temperature. X-ray diffraction and Raman studies revealed that Cu does not react with the SiO 2 network and remains in elemental form after diffusion for the annealing conditions used. PMC resistive memory cells were fabricated with such Cu-diffused SiO 2 films and device performance, including the stability of the switching voltage, is discussed in the context of the material characteristics.