Resistance switching behavior of atomic layer deposited SrTiO(3) film through possible formation of Sr(2)Ti(6)O(13) or Sr(1)Ti(11)O(20) phases

Identification of microstructural evolution of nanoscale conducting phase, such as conducting filament (CF), in many resistance switching (RS) devices is a crucial factor to unambiguously understand the electrical behaviours of the RS-based electronic devices. Among the diverse RS material systems, oxide-based redox system comprises the major category of these intriguing electronic devices, where the local, along both lateral and vertical directions of thin films, changes in oxygen chemistry has been suggested to be the main RS mechanism. However, there are systems which involve distinctive crystallographic phases as CF; the Magnéli phase in TiO(2) is one of the very well-known examples. The current research reports the possible presence of distinctive local conducting phase in atomic layer deposited SrTiO(3) RS thin film. The conducting phase was identified through extensive transmission electron microscopy studies, which indicated that oxygen-deficient Sr(2)Ti(6)O(13) or Sr(1)Ti(11)O(20) phase was presumably present mainly along the grain boundaries of SrTiO(3) after the unipolar set switching in Pt/TiN/SrTiO(3)/Pt structure. A detailed electrical characterization revealed that the samples showed typical bipolar and complementary RS after the memory cell was unipolar reset.