Filamentary Conduction In Resistive-Switching Zro2

Electrical current-voltage characteristics of sputtered ZrO2 thin films showing resistance change were examined in this study. The conduction and switching currents were compared on samples with top electrode of 150, 250, and 350 i.tm in diameter. The size independence of current magnitude implied the presence of an uneven filamentary path over the electrode area. The effect of current compliance was then discussed in the scheme of filament mechanism. The on-state current and turn-off threshold were both observed to increase with current compliance, which could be attributed to an increase in filament diameter.