Title: Characteristics of nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation treatment on gadolinium oxide resistive switching random access memory

Authors: Jer-Chyi Wang; Yu-Ren Ye; Ying-Huei Wu; Chi-Fong Ai; Wen-Fa Tsai

Addresses: Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kweishan 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan ' Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kweishan 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan ' Department of Electronic Engineering, Chang Gung University, 259 Wen-Hwa 1st Road, Kweishan 333, Taoyuan, Taiwan ' Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, 1000, Wenhua Road, Longtan 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan ' Institute of Nuclear Energy Research, Atomic Energy Council, 1000, Wenhua Road, Longtan 325, Taoyuan, Taiwan

Abstract: The effect of nitrogen plasma immersion ion implantation (PIII) treatment on the thin films of gadolinium oxide (GdxOy) for use in resistive random access memory (RRAM) applications is reported. From the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic analysis, the formation of Gd-N bond was evidenced by a shift in the peak Gd 4d peaks towards lower binding energy. It was observed that the nitrogen PIII treatment enhanced the product yield of the GdxOy RRAM up to 77%. With the nitrogen PIII treatment, the switching mechanism of the GdxOy RRAMs changed from Schottky emission to space-charge-limited-current conduction, as determined by the current-voltage fitting and device-area-dependent measurements. The nitrogen PIII-treated GdxOy RRAMs prepared in this study could provide a high resistance ratio of 104, suitable for future application as non-volatile memory.

Keywords: RRAM; resistive RAM; random access memory; nitrogen plasma; PIII; plasma immersion ion implantation; GdxOy; gadolinium oxide; nanoelectronics; nanotechnology; resistive switching.

DOI: 10.1504/IJNT.2014.059817

International Journal of Nanotechnology, 2014 Vol.11 No.1/2/3/4, pp.135 - 144

Published online: 15 Nov 2014 *

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