Total ionizing dose and displacement damage effects on TaOx memristive memories

The effects of ionizing radiation and displacement damage on TaOx memristors are evaluated. Devices show little response to 10 keV x-rays up to 10 Mrad(Si). Co⁶⁰ gamma rays and 4.5 MeV protons did not change the resistances significantly at levels up to 2.5 Mrad(Si) and 5 Mrad(Si) respectively. 105 MeV and 480 MeV protons cause switching of the memristors from high to low resistance states in some cases, but do not exhibit a consistent degradation. 800 keV silicon ions are observed to cause resistance degradation, with an inverse dependence of resistance on oxygen vacancy density. Variation between different devices appears to be a key factor in determining the electrical response resulting from irradiation. The proposed degradation mechanism likely involves the creation of oxygen vacancies, but a better fundamental understanding of switching is needed before a definitive understanding of radiation degradation can be achieved.