Physical model of electroforming mechanism in oxide-based resistive switching devices (RRAM)

Resistive switching mechanism is an ongoing topic in resistive random access memory (RRAM) communities. In this work, a physical model including vacancy generation, drift/diffusion mechanisms is developed to characterize the forming process in valence change resistive switching memories (VCM). This model addresses the intrinsic nature of forming time dependence on pulse amplitude and temperature, which is attributed to combined effects of vacancy generation and migration. The microscopic vacancy concentration evolution during forming operation was calculated and the vacancy migration effect on the forming process was quantitatively evaluated. The modeled forming time versus pulse amplitude relationship at different temperatures show excellent agreement with the experiment data.