Self-Selection Unipolar \HfOx -Based RRAM.

In this paper, we study the effect of highly doped n^+/p^+ Si as the bottom electrode on unipolar RRAM with Ni-electrode/\HfOx structure. With heavily doped p^+-Si as the bottom electrode, RRAM devices illustrate the coexistence of the bipolar and the unipolar resistive switching. Meanwhile, by substituting heavily doped n^+-Si, the switching behavior changes to that of the self-rectifying unipolar device. The asymmetry and rectifying reproducible behavior in a n^+-\Si/HfOx/\Ni device resulted from the Schottky barrier of defect states in the \SiOx/\HfOx junction and n^+ Si substrate, but this behavior is not seen for the p^+-Si bottom electrode case. With rectifying characteristics and high forward current density observed in the \Ni/HfOx/\n^{+}\Si device, the sneak current path in the conventional crossbar architecture was significantly suppressed. We believe that the proposed structure is a promising candidate for future crossbar-type RRAM applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]