Rapid synthesis of gallium oxide resistive random access memory by atomic force microscopy local anodic oxidation

The fabrication of gallium oxide nanodots for the application of resistive random access memory (RRAM) using a process of atomic force microscopy (AFM) local anodic oxidation on an indium tin oxide conductive glass substrate is reported. In the atmospheric environment, an AFM probe tip contacts the gallium film locally. This gallium oxide nanodot acts as the insulator layer in a single unit of the RRAM. The structure describes the insulator layer (GaO_x) sandwiched by the top (AFM tip) and bottom (Ga film) electrodes. Using current and voltage biased methods, the device switches from a high-resistance state (HRS) to a low-resistance state (LRS) and reset from LRS to HRS. Low read-voltage is used to distinguish the high/low resistance to present the digital data. Presented results show the ability of atomic force microscopy anodic oxidation to produce 300 nm diameter gallium oxide nanodots on glass substrates for potentially high density RRAMs.