Utilizing Sub-5 nm sidewall electrode technology for atomic-scale resistive memory fabrication

A sidewall electrode technology was successfully developed for the first time in this study, improving the understanding of the working mechanism in an ultra small, functional HfO2-based resistive random access memory (RRAM) device (<; 1 × 3 nm2). This technology exhibits potential for application in atomic-scale memories. The 1 × 3 nm2 RRAM device exhibited an excellent performance, featuring a high endurance of more than 104 cycles, a large on/off verified window (>100), and reasonable reliability (stress time > 103 s, 2 × 104 h at 250 °C). Furthermore, the 1 × 3 nm2 RRAM device exhibited distinctive unipolar behavior when a high voltage and rapid switching operation (7 V, 50 ns) were applied, and a switching mechanism model is proposed.