The Effect of Tunnel Barrier at Resistive Switching Device for Low Power Memory Applications

In order to realize the high density array device and suppress the disturbance between the cells, ReRAM also seem to need a selective device same as a diode in PCRAM. Still, while appropriate bipolar selective device doesn't show up, the tunnel barrier oxide embedded in ReRAM stack is one of the promising candidates for selective device of bipolar resistive switching memory. Additionally, using a tunnel barrier has a benefit to reduce the switching current. In this paper, bipolar memory devices with oxides such as HfO x , ZrO x and AlO x as a tunnel barrier were fabricated with 40 ~ 80nm cell size. We showed that the switching current and inherent switching mechanism can be successfully controlled by proper tunnel barrier materials and stacks.