Influence of the active TaN/ZrOx/Ni memristor layer oxygen content on forming and resistive switching behavior

The influence of oxygen content in active zirconium oxide layers on the electrophysical properties of TaN/ZrOx/Ni memristors is investigated. The [O]/[Zr] atomic ratio (x) in the oxide layers was varied in the range from 1.56 to 2.0 by changing the partial oxygen pressure during their deposition by ion-beam sputtering deposition. The ZrOx film compositions were analyzed using x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory simulations. The multiple resistive switching phenomenon in TaN/ZrOx/Ni memristors was found to occur in a certain range of x >= 1.78. With the x value decreasing in the oxide layers, the forming voltage of memristors decreased. Furthermore, at the lower edge of x values the switchable range, they no longer required forming. At the same time, as the x value decreased, the memory window (I-ON/I-OFF ratio) also decreased from 5 to 1 order of magnitude due to an increase in the memristor conductivity in the high resistance state. In order to identify the underlying conduction mechanism of TaN/ZrOx/Ni memristors, their current-voltage curves in low and high resistance states were analyzed in the temperature range from 250 to 400 K for the samples with x = 1.78 (forming-free) and 1.97 (which required forming). It was found that, for both samples, the conductivity in the low-resistance state is characterized by the trap-free space-charge-limited current (SCLC) model, whereas the conductivity in the high-resistance state is characterized by the trap-mediated SCLC model. The possible origins of structural defects involved in the memristor conductivity and resistive switching are discussed based on the obtained results.