Impact of oxide bottom electrodes on resistive switching behavior associated with oxygen vacancy dynamics in Al/ZrO2/BE ReRAM structures

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ade4b2

Abstract This study investigates the impact of oxide bottom electrode (BE) material and orientation on the resistive switching (RS) characteristics of Al/ZrO₂-based ReRAM devices. Devices with different oxide BEs, including (400)- and (222)-oriented ITO BEs deposited under pure argon and argon-oxygen (20% O₂) sputtering atmospheres, as well as SrRuO₃ (SRO), show distinct RS behaviors. The Al/ZrO₂/(400)-ITO and Al/ZrO₂/SRO devices demonstrate stable bipolar RS performance, with (400)-ITO enabling an abrupt reset process, a wider memory window (> 10⁴), and superior stability, while SRO devices exhibit gradual reset transitions with lower power consumption. Furthermore, the crystallographic orientation control applied to ITO BE significantly affects the V_O dynamics and RS performance, with (222)-ITO devices exhibiting irreversible RS behavior. It is irrefutable that BE material and its orientation can strongly influence RS performance by modulating the V_O dynamics, electric field distribution, and conductive filament behavior. These findings underscore the importance of BE properties in optimizing ReRAM performance and provide valuable guidance for the development of high-efficiency memory devices.

Keywords: ZrO₂ film resistive switching mechanism electrode material and crystallographic orientation oxygen vacancy dynamics

Received: 15 April 2025
Revised: 13 June 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 16 June 2025

PACS:	73.40.Rw	(Metal-insulator-metal structures)
	77.55.-g	(Dielectric thin films)
	72.20.-i	(Conductivity phenomena in semiconductors and insulators)
	71.55.-i	(Impurity and defect levels)

Fund: Project supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 51602160 and 61605086), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province, China (Grant No. BK20150842), the Talent Project of Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications (NUPTSF) (Grant No. NY222127).

Corresponding Authors: Wei Zhang, Fangren Hu
E-mail: chanway@njupt.edu.cn;hufr@njupt.edu.cn

Cite this article:

Wei Zhang(张伟), Zhen Guo(郭震), Luobin Qiu(邱洛彬), Jun Liu(刘军), and Fangren Hu(胡芳仁) Impact of oxide bottom electrodes on resistive switching behavior associated with oxygen vacancy dynamics in Al/ZrO₂/BE ReRAM structures 2025 Chin. Phys. B 34 127303

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Impact of oxide bottom electrodes on resistive switching behavior associated with oxygen vacancy dynamics in Al/ZrO2/BE ReRAM structures

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Impact of oxide bottom electrodes on resistive switching behavior associated with oxygen vacancy dynamics in Al/ZrO₂/BE ReRAM structures