Point contact resistive switching memory based on self-formed interface of Al/ITO

Point contact resistive switching random access memory (RRAM) has been achieved by directly sputtering Al electrodes on indium tin oxide (ITO) conductive glasses. The room-temperature deposited Al/ITO shows an asymmetrical bipolar resistive switching (BRS) behavior after a process of initialization which induces a stable high resistive state (HRS). It might be caused by the in-situ formation of an ultra-thin layer (≈4 nm) at the interface. By comparison, the Al/ITO device after vacuum annealed exhibits typical symmetrical BRS without an initiation or electroforming process. This can be ascribed to the ex-situ thickening of the interfacial layer (≈9.2 nm) to achieve the stable HRS after heat treatment. This work suggests that the self-formed interface of active Al electrode/ITO would provide the simplest geometry to construct RRAM.