Direct Observations of Nanofilament Evolution in Switching Processes in HfO2 -Based Resistive Random Access Memory by In Situ TEM Studies

Chao Li; Bin Gao; Yuan Yao; Xiangxiang Guan; Xi Shen; Yanguo Wang; Peng Huang; Lifeng Liu; Xiaoyan Liu; Junjie Li; Changzhi Gu; Jinfeng Kang; Richeng Yu

doi:10.1002/adma.201602976

Direct Observations of Nanofilament Evolution in Switching Processes in HfO₂ -Based Resistive Random Access Memory by In Situ TEM Studies

Adv Mater. 2017 Mar;29(10). doi: 10.1002/adma.201602976. Epub 2017 Jan 11.

Authors

Chao Li¹, Bin Gao², Yuan Yao¹, Xiangxiang Guan^{1

3}, Xi Shen¹, Yanguo Wang¹, Peng Huang², Lifeng Liu², Xiaoyan Liu², Junjie Li¹, Changzhi Gu¹, Jinfeng Kang², Richeng Yu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Beijing National Laboratory of Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, P. R. China.
² Institute of Microelectronics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China.
³ School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, P. R. China.

PMID: 28075035
DOI: 10.1002/adma.201602976

Abstract

Resistive switching processes in HfO₂ are studied by electron holography and in situ energy-filtered imaging. The results show that oxygen vacancies are gradually generated in the oxide layer under ramped electrical bias, and finally form several conductive channels connecting the two electrodes. It also shows that the switching process occurs at the top interface of the hafnia layer.

Keywords: electron holography; energy-filtered image; in situ TEM; oxygen vacancies; resistive switching.