Effect of Work Function Difference Between Top and Bottom Electrodes on the Resistive Switching Properties of SiN Films

Author

Seok Man Hong ; Hee-Dong Kim ; Ho-Myoung An ; Tae Geun Kim

Author_Institution

Sch. of Electr. Eng., Korea Univ., Seoul, South Korea

Volume

34

Issue

9

fYear

2013

fDate

Sept. 2013

Firstpage

1181

Lastpage

1183

Abstract

In this letter, the effect of the work function difference between various top electrodes (TE-Ni, W, Ti, and Al) and the Pt bottom electrode, ΔΦ_M, on the resistive switching (RS) of SiN thin films was investigated. The cells with W and Ti TEs showed stable RS, but others failed to show RS. In particular, the Ti TE exhibited low operating currents (~2 μA) and good retention properties (<; ~104 s at 85 °C). On the basis of the analysis of conduction mechanisms, it is found that stable RS of SiN films might be strongly related to the activation energy of traps induced by ΔΦ_M. Thus, the RS properties of the SiN films can be improved by engineering ΔΦ_M without additional processes.

Keywords

silicon compounds; thin films; Al; Ni; SiN; Ti; W; activation energy; conduction mechanism; electrodes; resistive switching property; temperature 85 C; thin film; work function difference; Electrodes; Electron traps; Energy states; Nickel; Silicon; Silicon compounds; Switches; Activation energy of traps; resistive random access memories (RRAM); resistive switching; silicon nitride; work function difference;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Electron Device Letters, IEEE

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0741-3106

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/LED.2013.2272631

Filename

6563100