Observation of conducting filament growth in nanoscale resistive memories

Yuchao Yang, Peng Gao, Siddharth Gaba, Ting Chang, Xiaoqing Pan and Wei Lu ()
Additional contact information
Yuchao Yang: The University of Michigan
Peng Gao: The University of Michigan
Siddharth Gaba: The University of Michigan
Ting Chang: The University of Michigan
Xiaoqing Pan: The University of Michigan
Wei Lu: The University of Michigan

Nature Communications, 2012, vol. 3, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Nanoscale resistive switching devices, sometimes termed memristors, have recently generated significant interest for memory, logic and neuromorphic applications. Resistive switching effects in dielectric-based devices are normally assumed to be caused by conducting filament formation across the electrodes, but the nature of the filaments and their growth dynamics remain controversial. Here we report direct transmission electron microscopy imaging, and structural and compositional analysis of the nanoscale conducting filaments. Through systematic ex-situ and in-situ transmission electron microscopy studies on devices under different programming conditions, we found that the filament growth can be dominated by cation transport in the dielectric film. Unexpectedly, two different growth modes were observed for the first time in materials with different microstructures. Regardless of the growth direction, the narrowest region of the filament was found to be near the dielectric/inert-electrode interface in these devices, suggesting that this region deserves particular attention for continued device optimization.

Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms1737 Abstract (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:natcom:v:3:y:2012:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms1737

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/ncomms/

DOI: 10.1038/ncomms1737

Access Statistics for this article

Nature Communications is currently edited by Nathalie Le Bot, Enda Bergin and Fiona Gillespie

More articles in Nature Communications from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().