Enhancement of Switching Capability on Bipolar Resistance Switching Device with Ta/Pr_0.7Ca_0.3MnO₃/Pt Structure

We found that Pr0.7Ca0.3MnO3 (PCMO) film sandwiched by a Ta top electrode (TE) and a Pt bottom electrode (BE) exhibited bipolar resistance switching similar to that of Ti(TE)/PCMO/Pt(BE). The switching capability of Ta/PCMO/Pt was greatly improved by pulse-forming compared to dc-forming, which are both pre-treatments to enable resistance switching by pulsed voltage. Switching speeds faster than 100 ns and rewrite cycles of more than 10,000 were obtained while maintaining a ratio of resistance change larger than 1,000%. The mechanism of resistance switching was explained by an oxidation/reduction reaction at the Ta/PCMO interface, as previously proposed for Ti/PCMO/Pt. (c) 2008 The Japan Society of Applied Physics